Walking Sports event highlights positive impact of physical activity on mental health
On Friday 15 May, Angus Community Sport Hubs, supported by Angus Health and Social Care Partnership, marked Mental Health Awareness Week with a Walking Sports and networking event.
Hosted by Forfar Community Trust at Station Park, the event was attended by over 75 participants from various clubs, trusts and organisations and from as far afield as Edinburgh and Glasgow.
This event was first born when, back in 2024, the Are You Ok? campaign was formally launched along with a partnership between Angus Health & Wellbeing Network, ANGUSalive and the Community Sport Hubs to show the potential benefits that physical activity can have on mental health.
Ross Taylor, Angus Community Sport Hub Coordinator, said: “Nearly 3 years ago, I was introduced to Ashleigh McGregor from the adult mental health integrated services team via our health and wellbeing lead at the time. Mental health is such a huge topic, and the circumstances which brought us together surrounded increasingly poor mental health amongst men across Angus, including really difficult conversations about suicide prevention.
“I remember taking a healthy dose of brave pills for that meeting, because mental health as topic – which is somewhat very important to me as a person and also professionally – felt a bit scary, dare I say taboo for sport to be getting into, as what chance could we ever have of improving mental health beyond the traditional ‘promote the local clubs’ approach of times gone by.
“I’m glad I had that meeting, and proud to say we’ve been brave and have tried a different approach in this space.”
Gail Forrest, Angus Council Senior Planning Officer, said: “We’ve had the privilege to work in true partnership with ANGUSalive to promote the Are You OK? Campaign in all ANGUSalive premises and with Community Sports Hubs as well as training a number of their employees in Suicide Prevention.
“Being able to work with an organisation and people who absolutely understand and see the benefits of working together to allow the people of Angus to see, and more importantly feel the benefits of physical activity on their mental health and wellbeing is something that I and the rest of the team are extremely proud of.”
James sportscotland Lead Manager said: “What I’m seeing here is probably country leading in terms of connection between sport and communities across Scotland.
“We’re trying to build a sporting system that everybody can benefit from and believe that sport is a significant force for good in local communities. The Walking Sports & networking event is a fantastic example of that in action.”
The event formed part of wider Mental Health Awareness Week activities and reinforced the growing role that sport, physical activity and community collaboration can play in improving health and wellbeing across Angus.
You can learn more about Angus Community Sport at https://angusalive.scot/sport-leisure/community-sport/