Sport, physical activity and rehabilitating service personnel
Today on 11 November, Armistice Day, the nation will fall silent to pay their respect and remember those who gave their lives fighting for their country.
Every year many servicemen and women return home with life-changing injuries sustained while serving in the armed forces. The English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) knows that sport and physical activity can play a vital role in the rehabilitation of service personnel.
Earlier this year, an army nursing regiment benefitted from the Sainsbury’s Inclusive Community Training by hosting a workshop at their base in Aldershot. They arranged the workshop for staff who work with injured service personnel on a daily basis but did not have much knowledge or experience of working with individuals in a physical activity setting.
The Sainsbury’s Inclusive Community Training can assist nursing and healthcare staff both within and outside the armed forces by increasing their skills, knowledge and confidence in using physical activity as a rehabilitation tool.
Participants shared their experiences of the training and the key learnings that they would take away. When asked about the most important thing they had learned, one participant said they now knew “not to shy away from somebody with a disability when providing sport-based activities,” while another participant said she had “learned how to include everyone and was going to use the training to adapt her work”.
Having attended the workshop, some participants said the training had increased their awareness of inclusive activity and motivated them to explore other available courses to build on their new skills and knowledge.
The participants’ feedback supported their positive experiences. As a result of the training, all attendees said they learnt practical ways to support inclusive delivery and gained new ideas and strategies they could apply immediately in their role. In addition, the training resulted in a 52% increase in participants’ confidence, skills and knowledge in the inclusion of disabled people in sport and physical activity.
Hosting this workshop has promoted interest from other units within the army base at Aldershot. Since the training, the nursing regiment have used their newly-acquired knowledge to volunteer in the local community, supporting nearby sports clubs to provide more inclusive activities.
If you work with service personnel in rehabilitation and feel your staff could benefit from the Sainsbury’s Inclusive Community Training, we can provide more information.
