The Active Wellness Scheme is an initiative to help anyone within the King’s community who suffers from any mental or physical health issues through the use of exercise therapy.

King’s Sport has support over 130 students since January 2019 through a 6 week fitness programme to educate students on the mental and physical health benefits of being physically active. All of King’s Sport Fitness Coaches are Mental Health First Aid qualified and have furthered their skills set through additional Mental Health training.

King’s Sport began the Active Wellness Scheme to aid the Student Support Services at King’s College London. As a department, King’s Sport have developed partnerships with areas of the University to refer students onto the scheme, in order to continue to pursue a world class student experience at King’s. Educating students of the benefits to exercise and working closely with a coach has proven to lead to an increase in academic attainment.

Creating a social environment for the student at all King’s Sport facilities is a priority for the Active Wellness Scheme. The scheme has indicated a wellbeing improvement of 19% post completion using the Warwick Edinbrugh Mental Wellbeing Scale. 100% of students completing the scheme would recommend the Active Wellness Scheme to friends and colleagues.

Simone's Story

I took part in the Active Wellness Scheme to help me deal with the stress of balancing my PhD work alongside being a volunteer residences welfare lead. I have previously found exercise to be really helpful to manage the stresses of everyday life and keep myself feeling mentally and physically healthy. However, since moving to London, fitting in exercise into my schedule really felt impossible.

 

Taking part in the Active Wellness Scheme was really good as it gave me the confidence to go into the gym on my own for a work out- rather than avoiding going because I felt uncomfortable and out of place.

My coach Josh was absolutely fantastic and helped me feel motivated and supported all the way through. The coaches are really knowledgeable and help you work towards realistic goals- no matter how fit you are. It's really motivating to be able to clearly see how far you've come and the new things you've achieved.

Talking to my coach and the other gym staff helped me feel more at home and let me start to enjoy going to the gym rather than feeling uncomfortable there.

The whole experience brought together by such friendly and supportive coaches really made the experience great.

Outside of the gym my confidence is increased again. But most importantly I'm more able to motivate myself and prioritize fitting exercise into my routine- this has such a big and positive impact on my mental welling overall. This means I'm better able to manage my academic work and volunteering.

I regularly recommend the scheme to my friends at King's as well as recommending it students as a part of my role as a Residences Welfare Lead.

Since finishing the scheme, I have had the confidence to go to the gym on my own and I now regularly go to a number of classes. It has taken a while to feel comfortable enough in myself to go to the classes (especially hatton boxing- which is awesome).

But it's really helped that I've started to learn that all of the coaches and staff at King's sport are just as awesome friendly and motivational as my coach (Josh) was on the Active Wellness Scheme.