OPAL: promoting mental health through friendship, socialisation and physical activity

Allen, Dan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5687-3623 and Jay, Bethany ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7326-8428 (2022) OPAL: promoting mental health through friendship, socialisation and physical activity. Project Report. Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

On 27 March 2021, the Department of Health and Social Care and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) announced the COVID-19 Mental Health and Wellbeing Recovery Action Plan for 2021 to 2022. The aim of this scheme was to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health. To operationalise the Wellbeing Recovery Action Plan, the Prevention and Promotion Fund for Better Mental Health was established. The fund was then used by Oldham Council to commission sixteen projects designed to improve the lives of people whose mental health difficulties had been exacerbated by COVID-19. The Oldham Learning Disability Advocacy Service (OPAL), a registered charity providing independent advocacy services and activities for people living with a learning disability, was one of the services commissioned to provide an 8-week physical activity for mental health project in Oldham. As part of the commissioning process, OHID require Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council to evaluate and assess the impact that the OPAL 8-week physical activity programme has made. This report employs Contribution Analysis to examine three key outcomes areas of the OPAL 8-week physical activity for mental health project in Oldham. It illustrates how the Prevention and Promotion Fund for Better Mental Health has been used by OPAL to facilitate physical activities for people living with a learning disability in Oldham. The report concludes by providing an overview of the findings, including three recommendations for scaling up future physical training activities and initiatives.