East of England Mental Health in Sport and Physical Activity Conference

As part of the East of England Sport and Physical Activity Network, the Herts Sports & Physical Activity Partnership (HSP) worked in partnership with five other Active Partnerships in the region to host a Mental Health in Sport & Physical Activity Conference. 

The hybrid event provided learning opportunities for over 150 cross-sector attendees to discuss how sport and physical activity can be used to benefit people’s mental health, as well as improving understanding of how opportunities can be delivered in order to be inclusive to those living with poor mental health.  

Taking place on 29th March, the event included keynote speeches from, Dr William Bird MBE, GP and CEO of Intelligent Health, and world-record-breaking British eco-adventurer, Isaac Kenyon, in addition to a showcase of best practice case studies from Active Essex, GoVox, Living Sport, For Men to Talk, Active Suffolk, Active Norfolk and MIND.  

HSP Project Officer, Tom Horey, organised the event and said “Today’s East of England Mental Health in Sport and Physical Activity Conference was a great opportunity to bring together partners from across the region to network and learn from each other. It was brilliant to see such high levels of engagement from those attending both online and in-person, really highlighting the value in hosting such events. 

I’d like to thank all of today’s presenters for their contribution. Hopefully, this conference has developed the understanding of the positive impacts being active and immersing yourself in nature can have and the resources already available to support this.  It was also great to hear about some of the brilliant work already taking place using physical activity to support mental health conditions in the East of England. This has inspired me to think about further ways we can bring this to life in the region and I am sure other attendees will be going away with a similar mindset.” 

Mental health does not discriminate, and with one in six people reportedly experiencing a common mental health problem, it is imperative that sport & physical activity are utilised to support improving the crisis.     

For more information on the East of England Mind Sport and Physical Activity Network contact Tom Horey at t.horey2@herts.ac.uk