Fitmums & Friends champions mental health

Posted 10th September 2018

Athletics club and charity, Fitmums & Friends is proud to announce that it now has a team of Mental Health Champions in place across its club network. Fitmums & Friends Mental Health Champions are members who have volunteered to support the mental wellbeing of fellow club members during the club’s physical activity sessions.

Group photo of Mental Health Champions

Fitmums & Friends Mental Health Champions form part of #runandtalk, a national initiative developed by England Athletics and MIND which aims to improve mental health through running in England. Over the past six months, 23 Fitmums & Friends members have trained to fulfil the role of Mental Health Champion within the majority of Fitmums & Friends’ clubs. The Mental Health Champions will help support existing members to improve their mental health through physical activity, as well as support new people who are experiencing mental health problems to start or get back into exercise. The Mental Health Champions are easily identifiable at club sessions by their t-shirts which feature an “I’m listening” logo, and will be available to all members.

Nicola Green, Mental Health Champion and Fitmums & Friends Clinical Psychology Lead, explains: “It was very important to us to introduce the Mental Health Champions across our clubs. They will help us to place a proactive focus on mental health as well as physical health. Our aim is to encourage people to talk and be open if they need to be. And members are already feeling the benefits.”

Toni Proctor, Mental Health Champion at Fitmums & Friends’ East Hull club, continues: “Exercising with Fitmums & Friends really improved my mental wellbeing after the birth of my daughter. So I volunteered to become a Mental Health Champion to give something back. When I wore my Mental Health Champion t-shirt to club, another member spotted it and opened up to me about the issues she’s currently facing. I just listened. When I returned home, I had a message saying how helpful the chat had been and how it had made her feel so much better.”

Fitmums & Friends has long recognised the importance of supporting members’ mental health. The Mental Health Champion team builds on support systems already in place, from simple initiatives such as meeting first-time visitors at the entrance to a club venue to help reduce anxiety, to the club’s successful ‘In the Pink’ scheme which provides one-to-one support to men and women, using exercise to improve positive wellbeing and to help manage the often debilitating symptoms caused by physical and emotional health problems.

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