Our project
Mind Body Boost.
Mind Body Boost (MBB) is an evidence-based intervention, devised to support young people in managing their mental and physical health. MBB addresses the social isolation, poor lifestyle balance, mental health difficulties and low levels of physical activity of young people. MBB is based on a ‘social prescribing’ model, seeking referrals from sports coaches, health professionals and educators. The partnership between mental health and physical activity services augments the traditional social prescribing model to provide holistic support to young people through a single intervention.
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Objectives.
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To establish a European collaboration with the aim of improving the mental and physical wellbeing of young people in a university setting
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To promote and foster social inclusion and equal access to sport for all
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To reach traditionally marginalised groups, reduce social exclusion, isolation for disadvantaged students and/or those with low levels of physical activity and mild mental health issues.
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Increase participation levels of young people, particularly those that are inactive, ensuring they achieve the WHO physical activity recommendations
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Enable young people to build social connections through the medium of physical activity
Expected outcomes.
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Reduce social isolation and mental health issues and increase access to and improve physical activity levels of students and improve their overall health
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Develop a best practice model, handbook and toolkit and intellectual outputs, to ensure that the project can be replicated and scaled up elsewhere in other institutions or organisations for the benefit of more European citizens
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Improve sharing of good practice and cultural exchanges amongst partner organisations
Materials will become available in Year 3 (2023) of the project.
Impact from Pilots 1 & 2: Previous Case Studies
The MBB project has already been piloted successfully in Trinity College Dublin and National University of Galway (NUIG) and the results have shown through surveys and testimonials that the project positively impacted their lives, with some students who had reported beforehand that they particularly suffered from social isolation had now made friends and really enjoyed learning together in a group.
Almost all the students said the project improved their motivation and confidence to engage in regular physical activity. They also noted they found the psychoeducation and mindfulness aspects beneficial for stress management and their mental health. There was also a large change of attitude with the participants who were disinclined/ambivalent to sport before the project (60%) saying they would be more or very likely to use the university sports facilities and programmes into the future. On a larger scale this project has great potential to positively impact the lives of more students.
Project Duration & Working Packages.
The project will be delivered in five phases over 36 months commencing on the 1st of January 2021 and ending on 31st of December 2023. All partners will contribute to the planning and delivery of each phase and will be assigned responsibility for one of five working packages as outlined in the table below. The partner leads for each working package will oversee specific tasks and objectives relating to that working package. There will be nine Transnational project meetings to support the delivery and management of the MBB project between partner organisations.