Exercise doesn’t just improve physical health, it also provides structure, routine and connection with others, says Daniel Floyd – all of which are vital parts of recovery.
The Get Connected programme supports Turning Point clients in its central London services, and began in 2010 with a single weekly park fit session in partnership with an organisation called British Military Fitness.
I joined Turning Point in 2011 as a recovery worker and started supporting on the programme. When the opportunity came to lead it, I wanted to put into practice my vision of integrating exercise and fitness with substance use recovery programmes. I’d always had an interest in personal fitness training, and by 2015 I’d become a personal trainer and was keen to bring my skills to the service. My goal was to help people move on with their lives by channelling their focus on sport and exercise.
The programme now has daily sessions attended by up to 80 clients per week – sometimes more. As we keep expanding our activities and more of our services find out about the programme we expect these numbers to keep growing, and we’ve also built relationships with local organisations such as the royal parks, Kensington Palace, Chelsea FC and the Fit For Life youth boxing club, enabling us to run a wide range of sport and exercise sessions.
We have various women-only programmes at our central London services and we decided to build on this by having a women-only park fit session, as we know that the experiences of many of the women we support mean they don’t want to be in fitness sessions with men, at least initially. We also piloted a women-only residential trip to the South Downs, which was incredibly successful.
Range of activities
We have fitness, yoga and arts and crafts sessions at the Clore Learning Centre at Kensington Palace – a warm and welcoming space where we have a particular focus on supporting people who are sleeping rough, homeless, or coming out of hostels. It was also a real coup when we agreed a partnership with a private tennis club in Hyde Park to provide free training sessions with coaches and equipment – these have become very popular with the people we support.
Our partnership with Chelsea FC sees our clients taking part in coaching sessions at Regent’s Park, and the club also gives us tickets to matches and invited us to their Christmas party for the organisations they support. Some of the other sessions we run include boxing, swimming and badminton, as well as park runs every Saturday and Sunday.
Numerous studies have shown that exercise has a positive effect on people in recovery. Researchers at Université de Montréal looked at 43 studies, comprising 3,135 participants. On average, participants engaged in moderate-intensity exercise such as jogging for an hour, three times a week, for 13 weeks. Of these studies, 21 explored the influence of exercise on stopping or reducing participants’ substance use. The results were significant – 75 per cent of the studies saw a decrease or total cessation in substance use among those who engaged in physical activity. ‘Physical activity is a simple way to empower those with substance use issues to take charge of their health and improve it,’ said lead author Florence Piché.
Structure and routine
People don’t necessarily have to come to every session on the Get Connected programme. What I encourage is for them to take advantage of the opportunity to build a whole week of structure and routine, which will allow them to address the isolation that can lead to substance use – if you look at the 5 Steps to Wellbeing, this programme meets all the criteria.
The programme helps build new and safe relationships. People interact with others in recovery, as well as peer mentors, programme leads and coaches. They get to take responsibility for their own wellbeing and support others who are new to the programme. The sessions promote self-confidence – people will be doing things they’ve never had the opportunity to do before. It could be something as simple as going for long walks in Epping Forest, Wimbledon Common, Hampstead Heath or Richmond Park, or mountain biking, hiking and camping trips to the Brecon Beacons, Lake District or Snowdonia.
I believe these amazing experiences reinforce people’s determination not to go back to their old ways. Ola was homeless for two-and-a-half years before he came to Turning Point, and now works as a volunteer and team leader on the Get Connected programme. ‘I speak to the service users and make them smile,’ he says. ‘If there’s something I can help them with, I’m willing to support and advise them the same way it was given to me. I’m here today because of Turning Point. If I can make my dream come true, so can someone else. I’m in a good place at the moment, and I want to help other people that need it.’
Embracing opportunities
The programme aims to give the people we support opportunities to work as volunteers and potentially help them in their long-term careers, which is why I’m looking at starting a personal fitness training level one course. I want people to walk through the Get Connected door and find there are so many other doors behind that one.
Amber came to Get Connected after she relapsed because of a job she didn’t enjoy.
‘I managed to get into rehab and since coming out of there everything changed and made me question what I want to do with life,’ she says. ‘Coming to park fit has really made me realise how much I enjoy fitness and I’ve gone on to start a personal training gym instructor course, which I’m really enjoying.’
The Get Connected programme has been recognised across boroughs. I was grateful to win sports personality of the year at Kensington and Chelsea’s 2022 sports awards, where we were also nominated in the power of sport and sports organisation of the year categories. The programme also won in different categories at the Active Westminster Awards for two years in a row.
With the success of Get Connected my plan is now to share our knowledge and skills, and create similar programmes all across Turning Point services.
Daniel Floyd is coordinator of the Get Connected fitness programme at Turning Point
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Kelly’s Story
When Kelly came to the Get Connected fitness programme three years ago, she was drinking all day and could not ‘see a way out’. She initially joined for a month and used the sessions to gain a sense of structure as she prepared to enter residential rehab for alcohol dependency.
After completing the recovery programme she returned to Get Connected as part of her aftercare for relapse prevention, and to improve her physical and mental health.
Kelly is now employed as a peer support worker and supports the service with the delivery of the fitness programme, and she’s also the service manager for Build on Belief (BoB) – which delivers the Get Connected programme in partnership with Turning Point. In her own words:
‘The Get Connected programme has massively changed my view on health in general. It’s not just drugs and alcohol, I’ve quit smoking now as well. The programme has also stopped me from feeling isolated which used to lead me to think about these things [substance use]. At first it was about my recovery but now I do it because it’s fun. It’s a safe space and I value my safety more than anything else.’