Dorset Mental Health Forum (DHMHF) have been using sports programmes to help roughly 200 people a week who are looking to get back into the community, build some confidence or improve their health.
The forum is a local peer led charity that was established in 1992 and employs people with lived experiences of mental health problems.
Con Giorgi, peer lead for social inclusion for Dorset Mental Health Forum said: “You meet someone who’s done it and it’s so powerful and it often leads to someone being willing to put the work in that you need to put in to recover.”
The forum runs sports programmes such as football sessions, climbing and Tai Chi groups all over Dorset that are open to the public.
Sessions that take place help people socialise whilst also get some exercise.
There are also other programmes that the Dorset Mental Health Forum run such as “Hospitals to Home” where if a person has been released from hospital they will be matched with a specialist NHS staff in the community as well as one of the forum peer workers.
One of the main sports the forum has seen be popular is the football sessions.
Mr Giorgi said: “It makes people feel like they are part of the wider community.”
He also said that there are times where they have to turn away people from joining in the football due to the high number of participants.
For 15 years SportsBU and the DMHF have run football sessions for young men who don’t typically engage with mental health services.
Many times, participants do not realise that the sessions are run by a mental health organisation with people that have mental health problems taking part.
Con Giorgi mentioned how when someone had didn’t realise the sessions were run by a mental health organisation because “he was looking for the stereotypical angry bloke with an axe or a woman crying into her hands.”
There are places such as Hahnemann House near the Bournemouth International Centre where people can go to if they feel like they are suffering with their mental health.
Art in the Park: A stress relieving event for adults.