Fitness In Mind (Brentwood) launches interim evaluation report
Jackie Dawes-Price Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health, joined the Fitness In Mind team in Brentwood Essex to celebrate ‘…the story so far’. She praised the programee for what it had achieved and emphasised the importance of partnerships to improve mental health support.
NSUN’s Sarah Yiannoullou was also invited to the event which launched the interim evaluation report’Fitness In Mind: Change for the better’. Sarah praised the programme for providing a ‘real’ alternative, with no waiting lists or drawn out assessment processes, and spoke of the power of peer support. She also acknowledged the 4Pi National Involvement Standards which are at the heart of the programme alongside the concept of ‘nothing about us without us’.
The national Fitness In Mind was launched in May 2014,’with the theory that peer support improves mental and social wellbeing, and encourages regular physical activity’.
The Brentwood Fitness In Mind three year programme (supported by Sport England) was launched in January 2016, targetting 1900 inactive local people. The interim report clearly sets out how may people they’ve worked with so far (1379) through 568 sessions, 24 different sports and 10571 peer support hours.
Download the report here
Listen to the views of people involved in the programme here.