Power of Social Connection Through Heart Foundation Walking
By Elizabeth Calleja Senior Advisor, Physical Activity at the National Heart Foundation of Australia
The power of social connection for health and wellbeing
The Heart Foundation Walking program was proud to sponsor the 2025 Health Coaches Australia New Zealand Association conference Transforming the Business of Healthcare at the Sofitel Brisbane (4th-5th September). It was such a pleasure for us to be a sponsor, exhibitor and be a keynote speaker at the conference, and for our team to meet the amazing health coaches who are driven to support people on their journey for optimal health and wellbeing. We also congratulate the brilliant winners of the Achievement Awards held on Thursday 4th September. Heart Foundation was honoured to present the HCANZA Outstanding Contribution to Health Award 2025 to Dr Sam Manger on the evening.
We were so pleased to be part of this event to connect with like-minded professionals to speak about our Heart Foundation Walking program and showcase the power of walking and social connection.
Elizabeth Calleja our Senior Advisor, Physical Activity spoke to conference delegates on the topic of “Providing the catalyst for movement and social connection” presenting how Heart Foundation Walking has supported over 400,000 people in Australia to connect and participate in regular physical activity for over 30 years.
Commencing in 1995 in Queensland, Heart Foundation Walking has scaled up to be a national program for communities to walk together regularly in a safe, socially connected environment, led in majority by wonderful volunteers who lead weekly walks all across Australia.
How Heart Foundation Walking supports social connections
The Heart Foundation Walking model is powered by community connections, through host organisations, local coordinators and our Heart Foundation Walking walk organisers, the brilliant volunteers who lead our walks. With nearly 800 groups across Australia, Heart Foundation Walking groups have over 50,000 participants who walk in our groups. Walking groups support numerous communities such as older adults, mums and bubs groups, culturally and linguistically diverse groups, cardiac rehabilitation programs and aged care facilities. Groups can start with as little as 2 people, with some of our groups having over 200 people registered in their community.
Our walkers highlight the benefits of participating in the program through our annual walkers survey. Our survey has shown that walking enables social connection with 92 per cent stating the importance of the groups for their social wellbeing. Walkers highlight that walking is also highly important for their physical health (91%) and mental health (88%), demonstrating the importance of movement for overall health and wellbeing.
We showcased at the conference some of the brilliant organisations and health professionals that lead walking groups, such as exercise physiologist Hayley Ferguson, who leads the Canelands Central Mall walking group. Hayley has up to 40 plus walkers walking with her group regularly and attributes the success of her group to the connections she has made with her community as the walk organiser (leader) along with social connections that have grown in the group. Not only does it support her patients, but the group also supports her practice as well. Visit our walking health professional page to read more in our case study on Hayley and her walking group.
Increasing reach across the country
Heart Foundation Walking is one program with two ways to join. Not only do we have a brilliant network of walkers in our community walking groups, we feature an online digital walking plan. Identifying that we needed to support people in different ways to be active, we took the time to speak to consumers and identify how we could reach more people in a digital format. This enabled us to launch our online Personal Walking Plans.
Personal Walking Plans were launched in 2021, at a time that highlighted the importance of digital support to enable people to be active. In the first 6 months of our program, during the COVID pandemic, we had over 90,000 people register for our Personal Walking Plans. To date, we have had over 350,000 people sign up for a Personal Walking Plan.
Designed exercise and behaviour change experts, the program has been created to guide adults to meet the recommended physical activity guidelines by week 6. Plans include walking and strength-based exercises to help people to reach 150 min of aerobic exercise and 2 days of strength exercises per week. People receive a plan suited to their current activity levels, and are supported via motivational emails and text messages each week.
We have reach into metro and regional areas across Australia, and enable people to receive a program for those who rather do it on their own, or may not have a walking group in their local area. We have recently enhanced our program to include new videos including an indoor walking program, and guided strength, gentle exercise and stretching videos. Anyone over the age of 18 can sign up to the program, so sign up and experience it for yourself. We encourage you to promote the program to your clients, and use this as a tool for those who are inactive, or want guidance to be more active for their own walking journey.
How can you support enhanced health, wellbeing and social connection through your practice?
The World Health Organisation Commission on Social Connection highlights that social health is as important as physical and mental health. With the report highlighting that 1 in 6 people experiencing loneliness, stronger social connections offer more opportunities to receive health advice and support, which may increase the likelihood of engaging in healthy behaviour.
This is why programs like Heart Foundation Walking and community groups are so crucial to health, as peer influence can engage behaviours through modelling, a term known as “social contagion”[1].
Creating your own community walking group can enhance your practice and connections with your clients, that can create modelling and support that enables agency for individuals to be active and take control of their health. With only 22.4% of Australians meeting the physical activity guidelines[2], health professionals have the unique opportunity to encourage people to move more. Evidence has shown that 1 in 4 people state that they would be more active if they were encouraged by their health professional[3]. This showcases the important role that Health Coaches play in supporting behaviour change, especially for physical activity and helping people to move more.
HCANZA registered Health Coach, Sadie Goddard-Wrighton, connected with us at the conference to glowingly tell us about her walking group, The Breast Friend Walking Group in Adelaide. It was such a pleasure to meet Sandie and hear about her wonderful walking group, and how the Heart Foundation has supported her in her connection with her community. Thank you Sadie for supporting your community and sharing your story.
Call to Action:
Learn more on how to support your clients to engage with the power of walking. Visit our Heart Foundation Walking health professional page heartfoundationwalking.org.au/for-health-professionals
Thank You:
Once again we would like to thank the Heart Foundation for being our Major Sponsor of the HCANZA 2025 Conference, we are grateful for your wonderful contribution to not just HCANZA but to the Australian Community that you serve.
Author Bio
Elizabeth Calleja is the Senior Advisor, Physical Activity at the National Heart Foundation of Australia. Elizabeth has had over 20 years’ experience as an accredited exercise physiologist and public health practitioner promoting the importance of physical activity and behaviour change to improve health outcomes. Elizabeth leads a dynamic team of practitioners in physical activity, health professional engagement and healthy built environments and is the clinical advisor for Heart Foundation Walking program.
Find out more about Heart Foundation Walking at heartfoundationwalking.org.au/for-health-professionals
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[1] World Health Organisation (2025). From loneliness to social connection: charting a path to healthier societies. Report of the WHO Commission on Social Connection. Geneva: World Health Organization. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. Accessed August 2025.
[2] Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2022). Physical activity. ABS. www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/health-conditions-and-risks/physical-activity/latest-release
[3] Orrow G; Kinmonth A-L, Sanderson S, et al. Effectiveness of physical activity promotion based in primary care: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. BMJ 2012;344:e1389.
