Sport England has invested over £170 million of National Lottery and Exchequer funding into sport provision for disabled people, providing a wide range of projects, facilities and specialist equipment for disabled people, including people with mental health conditions. As many as one in four experience some kind of mental health condition over the course of a year.
Our Inclusive Sport fund was designed to give disabled people more opportunities to play sport by investing in organisations with the right expertise, partnerships and links to the disability sector. This includes funding for development and start-up costs of new initiatives, and for education and training, so that groups can become more self-sufficient in providing sporting opportunities. Since the fund was launched in 2012, we have invested £18.2 million into 88 disability sports projects countrywide.
For example, Rotherham United Community Sports Trust recently received £168,141 to train support staff and carers to provide further sporting opportunities for adults with mental health conditions who previously have had limited access to playing sport.
The Oxfordshire Active Body, Healthy Mind project, run by the Oxfordshire Sports Partnership has also been awarded £262,928 to offer one-to-one and group support to help people with significant long-term mental health conditions to participate in regular sport, by reducing fear and building confidence.
Sport England Director of Insight, Lisa O’Keefe, said: “Sport can have enormously positive impact on wellbeing. We are therefore delighted to support projects that help those with mental health conditions by opening up opportunities for them to enjoy the benefits that sport can bring.”