Oxfordshire Active Body, Healthy Mind project receives £262,928
People with Mental Health problems in Oxfordshire will have more opportunities to get involved in sport after Oxfordshire Sports Partnership received £262,928 of funding from Sport England's Inclusive Sport fund.
The Active Body, Healthy Mind project is one of 44 across England that will benefit from £8.06 million of National Lottery investment from Sport England to open up more opportunities for disabled people to play sport.
One in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem during their life and at any one time the figure is one in six people. In Oxfordshire that translates to 88,500 people. A significant proportion of those people have a mental health condition that has an effect on their day-to-day activity which lasts more than 12 months, which classes the condition as a disability.
The Oxfordshire Active Body, Healthy Mind project will help 1250 people with mental ill health take up a wide range of sports through one to one mentoring and group support. The project is led by the Oxfordshire Sports Partnership working with a consortium of mental health and other community organisations.
Chris Freeman, Managing Director of the Oxfordshire Sports Partnership, said:
"Active Body, Healthy Mind is an example of the positive benefits we can bring to Oxfordshire with partnership working. It's a fantastic opportunity to engage individuals with mental ill health in sport providing a wide range of sporting opportunities to increase participation in disability sport and make a positive impact on people's lives."
Local mental health charity, Oxfordshire Mind, will be playing a leading role in the 'Active Body, Healthy Mind' partnership and will be hosting a Sports Coordinator to manage the project. David Agnew, Head of Community Services for Oxfordshire Mind, said:
"We're delighted to be able to be part of this joint effort to help people improve their health, fitness and wellbeing. Our Sports Co-ordinator will be working with local communities to help people access new ways to exercise. With 1 in 4 people in Oxfordshire experiencing mental health problems, making it easier for everyone to boost their physical and mental health is a great way to help people get the support they need."
Sport England Director of Insight, Lisa O'Keefe, said:
"We are delighted to be able to help the Oxfordshire Sports Partnership provide more opportunities for disabled people to give sport a go. Record numbers of disabled people now play sport and it's thanks to projects like this that we can continue to improve opportunities and make a real difference in communities."
The number of disabled people playing sport regularly is on the rise. In December 2013, Sport England's Active People Survey - an annual, in-depth measure of the nation's sporting habits – revealed that a record number of disabled people in England now play sport each week. However, non-disabled people are still twice as likely to play sport as disabled people (39.2 per cent compared to 18.5 per cent) which is why Sport England continues to focus attention and investment to address this imbalance.
Sport England's Inclusive Sport Fund supports programmes that aim to increase the number of disabled people playing sport. Since the fund launched, £17.1 million has been invested in 88 projects that make sport a viable lifestyle choice for disabled people.
As well as funding disability sport programmes, Sport England also funds equipment. In addition to today's £8.06 million announcement, Sport England also recently awarded £1 million to 141 clubs across England to help them buy equipment to open up sport to disabled people.
In 2013, Sport England invested £2million into the English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) to help accelerate our strategy to increase sports participation over two years. They have also directly funded six disability sports organisations to advise, support and guide other sports governing bodies as they create opportunities for participation by disabled people. British Blind Sport, Cerebral Palsy Sport, Dwarf Sport Association UK, WheelPower, UK Deaf Sport and Mencap Sport/Special Olympics GB all received a share of £1.3 million of National Lottery funding to make this happen.
