Improving Mental Wellbeing In Colleges Through Physical Activity

Concerns around mental health and wellbeing are increasing throughout education settings. Whilst the Government has started to address this in schools, limited support has been identified for colleges. The average college has 185 students with disclosed mental health conditions. In addition to this 81% of colleges have reported having ‘significant numbers’ of students who have undisclosed mental health difficulties (Association of Colleges, 2017).

Sport and physical activity is effective in improving mental health and wellbeing, particularly for people with depression as well as anxiety (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2017). Activity can be used effectively in both preventative programmes and as interventions. This project was focused on using physical activity as an intervention for students with mental health issues or low levels of wellbeing. Fifteen colleges participated in the intervention, identifying students that needed support and were open to trying physical activity to improve their mental wellbeing.