The road to fitness will boost mental health
Leisure chiefs back new drive
North Lanarkshire Leisure have announced they are extending its Get Active programme to teenagers and those experiencing mental health problems.
The new teen programme means that GPs can target those young people not currently active and give them access to a range of activities appropriate to their age.
And for the first time, mental health will be included as part of the criteria for referral.
The change in policy comes in the wake of this newspaper’s Time to Talk campaign.
Emma Walker, managing director of North Lanarkshire Leisure, said: “We absolutely agree with the Wishaw Press about the benefits to young people’s mental health of exercise and access. That’s why we’ve decided to extend our Active Health programmes to teens.
“We’ll be notifying NHS Lanarkshire of this extension and for the first time will be including mental health as part of our criteria.
“But this is just the first step. We’ll be working with the council to discuss how we can extend referrals to teachers, educational psychologists and others.
“We’ll also be considering if we can extend referrals to charities and other third sector groups too. I expect this will benefit thousands of young people across North Lanarkshire and get them active.
“We take suicide prevention extremely seriously and again are running the annual Suicide Prevention football tournament at Ravenscraig and, later in the year, we’ll be running our Bounceback to Netball and Football Suicide Prevention tournaments for S5 and S6 pupils.”
On referral, Get Active teens will get eight free weeks of NLL membership and three additional months at the reduced rate of £10 per month (normally £17).
The current Get Active programme, for those over 16, is available for referral for people with a range of conditions. Since it began in 2013, there have been nearly 5,000 referrals from GPs and other healthcare professionals, with more than 62,000 sessions attended.
NL Leisure have also announced that all development officers and head coaches for diversionary programmes will attend Applied Suicide Intervention training, with all coaches to complete a Safe Talk workshop, allowing them to help a young person who approaches them with low mood or suicidal thoughts.
In addition to Get Active Teens, NLL host activities aimed at young people at weekends and during the holidays.
The Saturday Night Project provides a safe, fun environment for young people to socialise with friends. And it’s free.
Every Saturday night, Wishaw and Shotts leisure centres are closed to everyone except young people.
The Saturday Night Project is designed by young people themselves.
There’s an opportunity to play and try a whole variety of sports including football, dance, badminton and swimming. Every week there are various competitions leading to an annual event.
At Shotts, the project is open to people aged between eight and 17, while at Wishaw it’s for those aged between nine and 17. The project runs between 6pm and 10pm.
Emma Walker added: “We recognise that it’s important for young people to be able to take part in sport and physical activity.
“Not only does it promote a healthy lifestyle but we know that taking part in sport can have a positive impact on mental health.
“And it means that young people can socialise and make friends in a safe environment.
“The Saturday Night Projects are free at Wishaw and Shotts and young people themselves have a huge say in what activities we do.”
We absolutely agree about the benefits to young people’s mental health of exercise and access Emma Walker