Leisure centres, gyms and local councils need to do more to tackle the “invisible barriers” that stop people with mental health difficulties from accessing their services, a new report said today.
Exercising our rights by Centre for Mental Health and commissioned by Rethink Mental Illness says that people with mental health difficulties face major barriers to fitness and leisure opportunities, including:
- Finding gym environments intimidating
- A lack of social support
- Battling the side effects of medication
- Discouraging conversations with health care professionals.
The report finds that these barriers are even greater for women, people from racialised communities, and people living in poverty.
The report says that people living with severe mental illness have a 15-20 year shorter life expectancy than those without, which is largely the result of poor physical health. Better access to fitness activities could help to address this inequality.
Exercising our rights shares the evaluation findings of Rethink Mental Illness’s work in Tower Hamlets and North East Lincolnshire. Funded by Sport England, the project explored how services and health professionals can boost the physical health of people with mental health difficulties by improving their access to fitness activities. The report finds that training leisure centre staff to understand the barriers and create a welcoming environment could make services more inclusive.
The report says that offering support to carers and involving people with mental health difficulties in service design are also crucial steps to overcoming these barriers.
It calls on local councils to ensure their fitness and exercise services are equally accessible to people living with a mental illness. And it says that mental health services need to actively reach out to their local fitness and leisure services to boost patients’ access to exercise facilities.
Andy Bell, chief executive at Centre for Mental Health, said: “People with mental health difficulties deserve equal access to fitness and exercise opportunities. Listening to people’s views and experiences is essential to ensure that leisure services meet their needs equitably. This should be a normal part of what leisure services do, not a one-off exercise.”
Mark Winstanley, chief executive at Rethink Mental Illness, said: “Physical activity is one way to reduce the mortality gap and boost quality of life for people living with mental illness, but as this report shows, a range of barriers can prevent people from engaging in exercise. Many people experiencing mental illness feel that gyms and sports clubs are not places for them, and there is often a lack of support for people to engage in an appropriate way which takes their conditions into account. Leisure centres, gyms and local councils can play an important role in creating more supportive environments, and we urge them to implement the recommendations in the report we’ve produced with the Centre for Mental Health to make this a reality.”
Tom Burton, Strategic Lead for Health & Wellbeing at Sport England, said: “Sport England is proud to have supported and funded this important work, which highlights the continued need to break down the barriers that prevent people with mental health difficulties from accessing physical activity.
“Everyone deserves the chance to enjoy the benefits of being active, and that means creating welcoming, inclusive environments in facilities across the country. Whilst great work is already underway across leisure and fitness, this report shows there’s more to do. With the right training, partnerships and support, leisure and fitness services and health professionals can make a real difference to people’s lives.”
