Mind and Sport England will today launch the Safe and Effective Practice Guide for sport or health professionals:
State of Mind Sport are happy to endorse this guidance and will implement the guidance in all of our work
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.
To access the guide click here https://mind.org.uk/safe-and-effective-practice
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.