We began the Minding Our Bodies project by conducting an environmental scan to gather information about physical activity programs for people with mental illness and to identify start-up challenges and program success factors.

We invited all community mental health organizations in Ontario — including organizations that currently have a physical activity program as well as those that don’t — to share their knowledge and help us build a better program.

More than 140 organizations responded to our request and completed the online survey. Eight organizations participated in one-on-one, in-depth interviews. The information and insight they provided will help us build a better toolkit.

We thank all of those who completed the survey for sharing your valuable time.

• Environmental Scan: Online Survey Results (March 2009)

A brief literature review was also conducted to assess the research on physical activity and mental health, so that the project’s recommendations would be evidence-based.

• Literature Review (March 2009)