Three social enterprises are working to create a better future for those who need it most this Mental Health Awareness Week (May 13-19).
These diverse enterprises have been able to give people a sporting chance to improve their mental health thanks to UnLtd, a charity which funds and supports social entrepreneurs tackling the key issues facing society.
UnLtd are working in partnership with Sport England to award a total of £800,000 to social entrepreneurs wanting to start or scale their ideas.
The joint programme, Movement for Change, will fund around 80 social entrepreneurs across England, with almost £340,000 already awarded.
Mark Norbury, chief executive of UnLtd, said: “Social entrepreneurs are tackling inequalities and mental health challenges with inspired wellbeing solutions and activities. They are making a powerful difference in communities – at a time when so many of us have been struggling.”
Meet the three grassroots organisations who are championing #MovementForChange:
PLAYCULTURE: “We've had people accidentally run a 10k in a single evening” - Ben Roper brings ‘sneaky fitness’ to games for adults to improve mental health
Founder of social enterprise PlayCulture, Ben Roper, is bringing innovative ‘outdoor games for adult brains’ to help tackle mental health after being awarded £18,000 from UnLtd.
PlayCulture believes the power of outdoor games for adults can ‘fix being a grown up’ - and is a ‘sneaky’ way to increase fitness.
He runs free-to-attend ‘real-world games’ supported by the PlayCulture app every week in iconic London locations such as the Barbican, Kings Cross and the South Bank.
Ben, from St Albans, who is also a filmmaker, said: “App-supported games are very much like video games in lots of ways but doing this out in the real world is an underdeveloped genre. It's an extension of playing as a kid but I think as we grow up our brains change. Adults demand a bit more structure and games that are not purely physical to play, but have a mental element or a social element as well.
“We're also attracting people who wouldn't otherwise move. Our games are very attractive to a neurodiverse crowd. These are people who often don’t feel comfortable in a traditional sporting environment, in a directly physically competitive space.”
Seektag is an exciting mix of hide and seek and tag where players earn points by ‘tagging’ their fellow contestants by spotting them and entering their bib number in the PlayCulture app while evading discovery themselves.
Ben added: “We call it sneaky fitness, partly because you are trying to be stealthy, but also because you don't realise you're doing exercise.
“We've had people accidentally run 10k in a single evening. They simply wouldn't have done that any other way because it doesn't enthuse them. It turns out that being pursued by Zombies is extremely motivating! You are not thinking, can I keep running? You are thinking, I need to get to that health pack to put myself in a really good place for the next five minutes of play.
“Playing games is a great way to beat the isolation and loneliness of modern life.
“The games open the door to other stuff, mostly fitness but also the social thing. A lot of people wouldn't normally feel like they could be that person. And actually they can, but they just need to have something in common.”
Around 25 people attend each of the hundreds of events that have been run since the end of lockdown. More than 1,500 people have joined the PlayCulture Meetup (https://www.meetup.com/playculture) group with an active core of around 250 attending monthly.
The idea has also been taking off in Singapore, Stockholm and Medellin, Colombia.
BLAZE TRAIL: “You don't need a big hiking bag or lots of fancy kit to get started” - mum Katy O’Neill Gutierrez is helping parents across the country take baby steps to get moving for mental health
Blaze Trails Community Interest Company (CIC) founder and mum Katy O’Neill Gutierrez is putting her best foot forward to support parents’ mental health and has grown a 10,000-member strong parent and baby walking community with 70 walking groups in the last three years.
Harrow-based Katy said: “There's a lot of evidence that postnatal mental health issues were increasing before Covid but they went through the roof afterwards because a lot of the existing support systems fell away and haven't come back.
“New parents in our community often talk about feeling overwhelmed or lonely when looking after their baby primarily at home. We know that getting outside, even for a short while, can do wonders for our mental health and ability to cope. We encourage parents to leave the dishes and the four walls of home behind. Go out for a couple of hours with your baby. It will do you a lot of good, it will do your baby good, it will do your family relationships a lot of good.
“You don't need a big hiking bag or lots of fancy kit to get started. Make sure you and your baby are comfortable and protected from the elements. Put some shoes on and just get out of your front door - start small even if it means you only go down to the end of the road. You’ll soon be able to achieve longer and more adventurous walks.
“A massive part of walking for our community is the social nature of it without the pressure of traditional indoor baby groups. A lot of people have said it has helped them find their community. They have made friends for life, been on camping holidays together and been to each others’ weddings.”
Blaze Trails, who received £18,000 funding from UnLtd, is now taking over the country with 100 volunteer organisers running groups from Yorkshire to Devon and a vibrant online community of parents supporting each other and accessing information for getting out into nature with babies.
GUARDIAN BALLERS: “Choose to move your body with the priority of moving your mind” - former PE teacher Kieran Joseph uses basketball to net good mental health in young people
Social enterprise Guardian Ballers is Coventry’s MVP in getting young people moving for their mental health.
Guardian Ballers is a mental and emotional wellbeing service that uses basketball and practical volunteering experiences to empower young people aged between 10-25.
Launched by Kieran Joseph in 2021 in partnership with mental health charity Coventry and Warwickshire Mind, the programme engages more than 1,000 young people every year with its mantra of BALL (improve in and enjoy basketball), BE (greater mental and emotional wellbeing) and make their community BETTER.
The former PE teacher and international charity worker said: “We're taking young people on this basketball physical activity journey but ultimately with the aim of engaging them to improve their mental and emotional wellbeing.
“Statistics show that if you are likely to have mental health problems, it will probably show up in some way between the ages of 10-25. We want to step in to help before it starts.”
“Our approach is ‘Choose to move your body with the priority of moving your mind’. People often think: I'm going to do this activity to make my body look good. But actually, if they say: I'm going to choose to do physical activity to make me feel good and improve my mood, it can be very powerful.”
Guardian Ballers, who received £12,500 of funding from UnLtd, work with young people in schools, community hubs, one-to-ones, and referrals in special schools, police projects with at-risk primary school children, and also run leadership programmes.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Press Contact: Kirsty Day - kirsty@yellowjigsaw.co.uk - 07941 605 925
UnLtd is the leading provider of support to social entrepreneurs in and around the UK. We fund and support hundreds of individuals each year through our grant and support programmes. UnLtd finds, funds and supports social entrepreneurs - enterprising people with solutions that change our society for the better.
In partnership with Sport England, the Movement for Change programme aims to support social entrepreneurs who are helping to unlock the advantages of sport and physical activity for the most marginalised communities. Awards of up to £18,000 are available, alongside support to develop key business and leadership skills to help social ventures become more financially sustainable.
Movement for Change will fund roughly 80 social entrepreneurs across England.
Movement for Change will be prioritising women in leadership and leadership by Black, Asian, minority ethnic and/or disabled people amongst the SE's it supports.
UnLtd’s Movement for Change programme, in partnership with Sport England, aims to support social entrepreneurs who are helping to unlock the advantages of sport and physical activity for the most marginalised communities. Awards of up to £18,000 are available, alongside support to develop key business and leadership skills to help social ventures become more financially sustainable. The funding is open until 2025. More information here: (https://www.unltd.org.uk/awards/movement-for-change)
Mental Health Awareness Week is an annual campaign run by Mental Health Foundation: (https://shorturl.at/fswA6).
1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem of some kind each year in England (https://shorturl.at/bdfPV)
Research from Mental Health First Aid England has shown that regular physical activity can make us happier and healthier.
Links to the five entrepreneurs websites:
PlayCulture: (https://www.playculture.com)
Blaze Trail: (https://www.blazetrails.org.uk)
Guardian Ballers: (https://guardianballers.org)
