Gavin Baxter

I read your editor’s letter on mental health training (HCM issue 3 2024) with great interest and wanted to highlight the work being done by qualifying bodies to take steps towards delivering against this need.

It’s undeniable that there’s a growing recognition of the demand for a holistic approach to wellness, with 81 per cent of professionals believing it’s important to make facilities and programmes more inclusive for people experiencing mental health struggles or aiming to avoid them.

The call to integrate mental health disciplines into fitness programmes is growing, reflecting an increasing demand from consumers for the provision of more inclusive and supportive environments.

We’ve embraced this progressive mindset and taken proactive steps to improve mental health education and qualifications over the past four years, by delivering comprehensive mental health-based training programmes that have garnered significant interest, with over 3,000 registrations since 2020.

However, while the focus has been on accrediting bodies to drive change, we believe employers and trainers also have a crucial role to play when it comes to delivering mental health support. It’s imperative fitness professionals actively pursue CPD in this area and also that they receive encouragement and support from their employers to do so.

This will equip them to meet the growing demand by creating a new style of mind/body training, enabling the sector to take the lead in delivering mental health support in de-medicalised settings.

We know being physically active has a positive impact on mental health, with studies showing regular physical activity can reduce the risk of depression by 30 per cent. As an industry we’re rapidly improving our support for the shift from ‘how I look to ‘how I feel’ and Active IQ is committed to facilitating this transition.

Our accessible mental health training programmes, offered through our network of providers, equip fitness professionals with the necessary skills and knowledge to support their clients effectively.

While the industry hasn’t yet integrated dual-training in PT and psychotherapy – as called for in your editor’s letter – the growing interest in mental health training among fitness professionals indicates there’s an opportunity to develop qualifications that could eventually combine both fields for the benefit of consumers, staff and operators.

Becky Sutton, Liz Fletcher, Sarah Needham / photos: Becky Sutton, Sport for Confidence, Sarah Needham

Nottinghamshire Healthcare has enlisted the support of Sport for Confidence to drive prevention through the development of integrated place-based interventions in adult health and social care.

Working with a consortium of partners, we’re supporting a pathway from health to leisure services so people with intellectual and developmental disabilities can participate in physical activity.

The project is a fantastic example of how a whole-system approach can deliver health and social care outcomes that not only work for the individual, but also take the pressure off clinical services by recruiting the skills and services of a diverse array of community providers.

The project directs people from NHS services to their local YMCA Community and Activity Village, where they take part in weekly coached Boccia sessions delivered by the YMCA and designed in collaboration with the NHS Newark Intellectual Developmental Disabilities team (NIDDT).

Healthcare professionals – such as occupational therapists and physiotherapists – adapt their clinical expertise to the activity-oriented setting and work with sports coaches to make personalised adjustments, ensuring everyone can participate in a meaningful way.

Sport and physical activity has the power to deliver a vast array of physical and mental health outcomes and this project opens the door to participation opportunities, while creating a network of support that drives social connection and community engagement.

The project started as a result of a multi-disciplinary team of therapists in Newark wanting to signpost adults with learning difficulties to accessible sporting groups. They quickly realised there were very limited options.

Following research and discussions the NIDDT collaborated with the YMCA and other partners to enable this vision to become a reality.

Feedback has been hugely encouraging. It’s fantastic to be able to offer an alternative to at-home rehabilitation which encourages social interaction, movement and therapy all under one roof.

More: www.sportforconfidence.com

Becky Sutton is chief operating officer at Nottinghamshire Healthcare; Liz Fletcher is national lead at Sport for Confidence; Sarah Needham is specialist senior physiotherapist on the Newark Intellectual Developmental Disabilities team