Key messages
for your website, intranet, email and newsletter channels
For sport or health professionals:
We’re in the middle of a mental health crisis. 1.6 million people are currently stuck on waiting lists for NHS mental health services.
We know that sport, physical activity and movement can play a powerful role in helping people with mental health problems to stay well, alongside talking therapies, medication and other forms of support.
With over 3 million coaches, the sport and physical activity sector has a huge potential to support the nation’s mental health.
That’s why, together with their partners, Mind is launching brand new guidance on safe and effective practice for those delivering physical activity and mental health programmes.
With more programmes taking place across the country – in local parks to mental health inpatient wards - the guidance will give you the confidence to safely and effectively support the mental health of participants as well as those involved in delivery.
Over the last year, Mind has worked closely with people who have lived experience of mental health problems, as well as coaches, front-line deliverers and healthcare professionals from 150+ sport, mental health and physical health organisations to find out what best practice looks like in a range of settings.
These settings include:
Independent: at home, outdoors or online settings which support people to be physically active on their own.
Community open: population-level programmes aiming to engage the public in physical activity, sport or sport for development.
Community targeted – mental health: Targeted programmes that deliver wider health, wellbeing and/or social outcomes, intentionally designed to support specific mental health outcomes.
Primary care: Services that provide the first point of contact in the healthcare system.
Secondary care: Services which provide expert care and specialist treatment for patients who have been referred from primary care services.
The guidance will help to shape future physical activity delivery across each of these settings to support mental health outcomes, ensuring participants and those delivering sessions are kept safe throughout the process. In September 2025, Mind will be releasing a summary report plus lots of handy resources and tools to help you break down the guidance and what it means for you in practice.
Mind's mission is to create a mentally healthy society, and we think physical activity and movement has a key role to play. But we also have a duty of care to ensure its both safe and effective for everyone involved. You can help us ensure this by embedding safe and effective practice within local policy and procedures.
Thank you to all the people with lived experience of mental health problems, and over 150 organisations, involved in codesigning our report. And to Sport England and National Lottery for funding this project.
Calls to action - for sport professionals:
Read the report: If you’d like to read the full report, head to mind.org.uk/safe-and-effective-practice
Share the report: You can share this link on your channels: mind.org.uk/safe-and-effective-practice
Support our work: If you’d like to support this work or find out more, please get in touch at sport@mind.org.uk
Key messages - for the public:
We know that sport, physical activity and movement can be a valuable tool that helps us to maintain good mental health and wellbeing.
But we also know that any activity can and should be tailored to our individual needs and work for our physical and mental health. Not against it.
That’s why, together with their partners, Mind is launching brand new guidance on safe and effective practice for physical activity and mental health programmes.
With more programmes taking place across the country – in local parks to mental health inpatient wards - the guidance will provide deliverers with the confidence to safely and effectively support the mental health of participants as well as those involved in delivery.
Over the last year, Mind has worked closely with people who have lived experience of mental health problems, as well as coaches, front-line deliverers and healthcare professionals from 150+ sport, mental health and physical health organisations to find out what best practice looks like in a range of settings. So that you can feel confident when attending a local programme.
Call to action - for the public:
Head to the Hub of Hope: Visit hubofhope.co.uk and use the 'physical activity and movement' filter to find a safe and effective physical activity and mental health programme near you.
