Editorial
| Published date | 10 July 2009 |
| Pages | 2-3 |
| Date | 10 July 2009 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/17465729200900001 |
| Author | Woody Caan |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
2journalof public mental health
vol8 • issue 1
©Pavilion Journals (Br ighton) Ltd
editorial
EDITORIAL
WoodyCaan
Woody.caan@anglia.ac.uk
In the currentNational Institutefor Health and
Clini cal Exc ellen ce (200 4) guid eline s on
depression , the word‘exercise’ figures98 times,
includi ng the specific use in p rimary care of
exercise referral systems aimed at people with
mild or sub- clinical problems . However, based on
2008 data fr om many occupations, f ew people use
exercise as a response to ‘stress’. For example, when
stressed , 57% of housewives sa y they cry, 51% get
angry,45% eat, 30% smoke, 25% drink,but only 7%
exercise. The pattern is broa dly similar for stressed
NHS employees(respectively 48%,51%, 46%, 30%,
33% – butonly 12% exercise)(Frankel,2009). For 10
years , an elem ent of th e Posit ive Ste ps for Me ntal
Health(see, for example, SainsburyCentre forMental
Health,2009) that has been recommendedroutinely
is ‘keep ing activ e’. Solit ary exerc ise just do es not
appeal tomost people (adults or children)and in this
issue, NicolaCoe shows that adults who wanta non-
clini cal int ervent ion for stres s want so me sort of
supportive group.One clue to reconciling theseneeds
comes from the Mental Health Foundation website
(http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/keep-active/):
‘I get a huge buzz from my rock’n’roll class. Hours
later,my legs ache, but I’m still smiling.’
As well as the social dimensions of acceptance and
incl usi on, gr oup ex erci se ne eds th e crea tion o f
‘activity-friendly’ environments(Sustrans, 2009). In
this is sue, Mur ray Griffin de scribes a sust ainab le
exercise group for people w ith learning disabilities
(who might experience exclusion from many other
activities) within an incl usive, community centre.
The eval uation a round st igma in th e progra mme
Time to Change (Henderson & Th ornicroft, 2009)
found that mass physical exercise events called Get
Moving! facil itate so cial co ntact be tween pe ople
with a nd wi thou t expe rien ce of m enta l heal th
diso rde rs. Wh en try ing to m ake t he com plex
transition f rom adolescence to adult hood, mental
heal th in equa liti es are w ide spre ad, wi th
disadvantagedyoung people at greater risk of mental
illness. Youth clubs that promote both communi ty
enga gem ent an d spor ts hav e a tra ck rec ord of
promo ting em otion al well -bein g too (An trobu s,
2009 ). Ho weve r, ther e is a nat iona l shor tag e of
experts within youth services who understand both
coaching and communityprojects: one role model is
the chief executiveof the Mayor’s Fundfor London’s
poorest children,an alumnus of the Bobby Charlton
Soccer and Sports Academy (Barney, 2009).
A numberof NHS trusts have experimented with
working alongside football clubs, suchas the health
promo tion pa rtner ship in P resto n (Gree nwoo d,
2007). In m y own public health t urf, profession al
coachesfrom Colchester Unitedhave worked closely
with lo cal sch ools an d the pri mary ca re trus t,
espec ially r eachi ng out to t he most d epriv ed
neigh bourh oods . In the wo rds of on e local h ead
teacher:‘It is good forthe children tosee footballers– who
… have a hi gher st atus th an teac hers’ ( BBC New s,
2004). Rese arch in progress sugge sts that the self-
estee m of both b oys and g irls be nefit s from
participationin this community activity.
Becau se of con cerns a bout ri sing le vels of
childh ood obesity, the Dep artment o f Health are
suppo rting a m assiv e roll- out of th e MEND
programme(Mind, Exercise, Nutrition,Do it!) across
England. Basedon one small-scale trial(Sacher et al,
2007) t he MEND e vange lists a lso cla im an
improve ment in schoo lchildren’s self-es teem. My
personal hesitation around this multi-million pound
investmentis that at the grass roots levelthe MEND
facilitatorsmay have only a limited understanding of
eithe r menta l healt h or safe guard ing vul nerab le
children…watch this space?
One strong lesson from hospital liaison services
(NHS Co nfede ratio n, 2009 ) is that p eople w ith
physi cal hea lth nee ds ofte n benef it from s kille d
mental health provision too. In the alcohol field, it
has bec ome cle ar that p eople w ith alc oholi sm
typically present to a variety of services with a wide
range of sim ultaneous ne eds (Caan, 2009). In the
field of psychosis care, it is similarly clear that early
inter venti on need s a range o f physi cal and
psych ologi cal care t o work. Within t his ‘hea lthy
living’ care, Shiers et al (20 09) include t he need
for exercise.
Wewould be foolishto discriminateagainst older
people in relation to keeping active.Julia Neuberger
has just re tired from her post as t he government’s
‘champion for volunteering’.In her updatedbook Not
Dead Yet(Neuberger, 2009),she recommends:
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