Active for Life Takes Off!

Posted on 3rd Aug

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Alison Dahill, Coordinator at The Dove Project said 'Excellent work. Our service users have experienced sports which they would not have had the opportunity to do. It has given them confidence to explore new situations and work together as a team, which for people with learning disabilities is a huge step!'

Active for Life is a Guild service which supports and promotes physical activity in adults living with mental health problems and/or learning disabilities. Physical activity is anything which can get you moving a bit more. This could be taking part in a sport, doing a bit more walking, or even doing some gardening.

Active for Life Manager, Gemma Mac Donald, said, “I’m pleased with the results and it’s nice to hear about small changes individuals have started making as a result of being more active, such as increased confidence, hand-eye co-ordination and interest and wanting to take part in specific activities.”

Taster sessions were piloted with service users of the Dove project. 12 participants took part in an exercise about what physical activity is and why it is important and were asked to choose 6 activities they would like to try out together. They selected badminton, table tennis, yoga, using a gym, football and aerobics. A total of 5 members of staff from the service were involved and took part also. Sessions were also set up with involvement of the staff and tapping into facilities close to the service which participants would be able to walk or get to easily.