Case study:
Healthy Kickers Every Thursday lunchtime, men and women of all ages and abilities with mental health issues gather at the Westway Sports Centre in London to play football. Each session begins with a warm-up and skills practice, followed by a number of seven-a- side football matches. The Healthy Kickers project is
The Healthy Kickers scheme is open to anyone with a mental health diagnosis
comments: “We encourage all GPs to prescribe exercise, refer patients to support services that can help them exercise and ensure exercise, where applicable, is a central part of the treatment a patient receives.”
Addressing the stigma But what role could fitness operators play in promoting exercise for mental health? Lawrence believes the industry should shift its message. “The emphasis should be on exercise to feel good, rather than to not feel bad,” she says. Harriet Heal, a clinical psychologist
with an interest in the interaction between physical and mental health, agrees: “Gyms and health clubs tend to focus too much on the physical pay-offs: lose weight, tone up, get fi t,” she says. “There needs to be more attention given to the mental benefi ts. Think of it this way: one in four of the people who walk through the door of your health club or leisure centre has, or has had, a mental health condition.” It’s hardly a minority group, then. Yet
while gyms and health clubs routinely offer classes for pregnant women or for the over-50s, it’s rare to fi nd sessions aimed specifi cally at those with mental health problems.
June 2014 © Cybertrek 2014 “There’s still a long way to go in
breaking down the stigma surrounding mental ill health,” says Mark Owen, who led the pioneering Bristol Active Life Project (BALP – see briefi ng, p58) in his role as physical activity development offi cer for mental health at Bristol City Council. “Many people aren’t comfortable being ‘labelled’ in public.” Heal, who co-founded Up and
Running – a running group for women in Kent with mental health issues (see briefi ng, p60) – agrees: “Our poster says ‘Do you suffer from anxiety or depression?’ But I sometimes worry that it puts off as many people as it attracts. I don’t want to avoid terms like ‘depression’ or ‘mental health’, but I also want don’t want to alienate people. We’ve had people enquiring about the group who say: ‘I don’t know if I’m ‘bad enough’ to join...” When Up and Running launched in
2010, the Sevenoaks Chronicle, in which Heal had placed an ad, published a mocking piece describing the prospect of an exercise and mutual support group for depression and anxiety as “a barrel of laughs”. While the newspaper later issued a written apology, it shows just the sort of negative reaction that might hold people back from seeking support.
a joint initiative by SMART and London Cyrenians Housing – charities that provide support to people with mental health problems through physical activity – and there are staff on-hand to offer motivation and advice, and to ensure participants develop the confi dence to engage fully with the sessions. Coaching is provided by Queens Park Rangers Football Club and sessions are adapted to meet the fi tness and support needs of everyone who attends. Healthy Kickers is open to
anyone with a mental health diagnosis who is referred by an approved organisation or charity within the London tri-borough area of Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster and Hammersmith and Fulham.
Details:
www.smartlondon.org.uk
A warm welcome Projects like BALP and Up and Running demonstrate that specifically targeting a mental health market can be successful. But it’s not the only way. “The right approach and attitude can make any exercise environment more welcoming and inclusive,” says Heal. In 2000, a study conducted by the
YMCA in the US set out to identify what kept people coming back to their gyms. After analysing more than 150,000 member satisfaction surveys,
Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital 57
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