Exercise for Mental Wellness

I am writing this in my capacity as a community mental health nurse currently employed by the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. I was a regular participant in the weekly Thursday afternoon football sessions run at the Damilola Taylor Centre in Peckham. These weekly sessions were invaluable to the service users. It was always well attended and there were many regular clients who would attend every week, often arriving before staff. They all had a sense of ownership of these sessions and would often help set up equipment. These sessions would often see many individuals turn up who were generally very isolated and difficult to engage in the conventional manner.

A successful football project named Peckham St Giles ran for some time at Camberwell in South London. As a Health Professional I was involved in the project and often helped and played with the service users. I was extremely impressed by the running of the group by Mr. Ron Bell and I know the service users were very appreciative of his input. The service users not only were engaged and kept well within the group, but they were assisted to move on to employment and educational opportunities, the success rate was very high. I have no doubt that this has been the singular most effective mental health project I have seen in my 30 years as a social worker and hope very much it returns very

“Sporting Recovery CIC originated from the Peckham & St. Giles football project. From the outset this project was very successful, with around 170 participants attending the programme. Over forty percent of the service users on the programme either reduced or were able to come of their prescribed medication. The football team, established by the service users won the league. However, the greatest success was the integration of a ‘revolving door’ service user who has been able to gain a qualification, reduce his medication and obtain full time employment. I believe the directors have the expertise and determination to make a success of the CIC”