What Is the Minding Our Bodies Toolkit?
The Minding Our Bodies toolkit will be launched in March 2010.
The toolkit will provide a range of easy-to-use resources to help you create sustainable physical activity programs for people experiencing or recovering from serious mental illness. Developed for use by community mental health agencies, consumer/survivor initiatives and any other organization working with individuals who have a mental illness, the toolkit can be adapted to each organization’s setting and needs.
The toolkit is intended to build capacity within the mental health system to create new opportunities for physical activity. It will:
- Include a business case for developing physical activity programs for people with mental illness
- Offer suggestions for reducing barriers to inclusion in the community
- Show the steps needed to create partnerships
- Identify strategies for promoting and developing peer leadership
- Provide a directory of existing program resources
After the six pilot sites have been evaluated, their feedback on the toolkit will be the basis for changes to ensure that the kit will meet the needs of a full range of potential users. The final version of the toolkit will be launched in March 2010.
During our environmental scan, we asked organizations what resources they would like to see included in the toolkit. Here are the resources most frequently requested:
- Best practices for physical activity programs for people with mental illness
- Profiles of existing programs
- Listings/descriptions of community resources and supports
- Suggestions for funding resources
- Information and resources for writing poposals
- Motivation techniques for participants and staff
- Visual and other aids to help show how to strengthen different muscle groups
- Information about considerations of safety and liability
- Assessment tools
- Checklists and calendars to chart an individual’s progress
Stay tuned for more information about the toolkit as it progresses!
