Hits: 55
The unique, must-attend event for everyone involved with Social prescribing


8.45 – 9.15 Registration and Tea/Coffee
9.15 – 9.30 Welcome and setting the scene
Chair, Svend Elkjaer, Founder/Director, Sports Marketing Network
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9.30 – 10.00
Delia Beck, Partnerships Lead – Market Development & Active Environments, Sport England
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10.00 – TBA
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10.30 – 11.00 Bright Star Boxing Academy fighting mental health and turning lives around
Joe Lockley, Director, Bright Star Boxing Academy
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Bright Star Boxing Academy is unlike any other gym. Set up by founder Joe Lockley in 2015, it started simply as a way to get fit and practise boxing in the local region. However, in the four years since its inception, the gym has become a pillar of the community, helping people from across the West Midlands to get fit while also tackling mental health issues.
Bright Star Runs sessions for groups ranging from women who have suffered sexual abuse to homeless people those young people who are excluded or at risk of exclusion from school and social prescribers.
Every Saturday the gym also hosts ‘Counterpunch’, a group aimed specifically at encouraging males to talk about their mental health.
In April 2021 Bright Star was awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.
Joe Lockley, the founder of Bright Star Boxing Academy has nine years of experience in sports management and building diverse partnerships to offer sport for social change. He has successfully developed and implemented unique approaches to utilising boxing-based education and mentoring programmes for tackling social issues and developing impactful and multi-award-winning programmes.

11.00 -11.30 Tea/Coffee
11.30 – 12.00 Using social prescribing and physical activity to tackle mental health issues
Rob Bishop, Partnerships Manager, The British Mountaineering Council
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Rob Bishop has worked inside a number of national governing bodies for sport over his 15-year career. He oversaw the growth of the most successful mass participation product at British Triathlon, achieved the National Autistic’s Society Autism Friendly Award at British Orienteering and is currently overseeing the creation and enhancement of partnerships at the British Mountaineering Council.
Rob has recently completed a BSc in Sports Fitness and Coaching, a PGCE and is currently studying for a Masters in Sports Leadership and Professional Development. It was during his university studies that he was first introduced to social prescribing to tackle mental health issues and it’s an area he continues to champion.
In his spare time Rob has used running to tackle mental health issues by running successful couch to 5km programmes that have seen people using physical activity as an alternative to prescribed medication.
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12.00 -12.30 How can we help sedentary people to become more active
David Reader, Strategic Advisor, London Sport
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How can we help sedentary people to become more active? One way is to support the health and well-being professionals who they come into contact with to be more skilled and confident when talking about the benefits of physical activity. Since 2018, David has led a project to support Social Prescribers in London so that they feel more empowered to advocate physical activity to their clients. Over the last two years as the project has developed a great deal has been learnt and today David will share some of that insight, particularly in relation to how the sports sector can respond to this increasingly important role in the primary care health and well-being setting.David Reader is a graduate of both Loughborough University and Birkbeck, University of London with a wide background in sport and physical education. David started his career as a teacher and then moved in to the sport development sector, where he has held roles in two national governing bodies, Sport England and now at London Sport. As a Strategic Advisor, David has recently devised a new training programme for Social Prescribers across London, as part of his remit.
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12.30 – 13.00 Panel discussion
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13.30 – 14.00 Lunch
14.00 – 14.30 How leisure providers can achieve positive action in reducing health inequalities it’s your game, play it your way!
Natalie Austin, Regional Head of Public Health Development, Everyone Active
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14.30 – 15.00 Making an outdoor lifestyle avaiable in Scotland for healthier and more equal society
Rachel May, Founding Director, Mhor Outdoor
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15.00 – 15.30 Empowering link workers to find physical activity solutions that will improve the health and wellbeing of their clients and also working with a mix of providers
Diane Farmer, Partnership Development Manager, Hackney Council
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It is estimated that 20% of people consult their GPs for problems that are primarily social rather than medical (Torjesen, 2016). If the current trajectory continues, by 2035 two out of three adults (66%) are expected to be living with multiple health conditions and 17% will have four or more conditions. Patients will need to be supported by a range of health care professionals, not just their GP because the existing model won’t be sustainable.
Social Prescribing is a response to this. Patients referred to a link worker have the opportunity to discuss their personal issues face to face and during those conversations co-design their own personalised ‘social prescription’ which may include a desire to become more physically active.But what does that mean? As the provider of physical activity, are your clubs and other groups prepared for a potential influx of people with social, emotional or practical needs?
Hackney Council are training link workers – empowering them to find and discuss physical activity solutions that will improve the health and wellbeing of their clients. We are also working with a mix of providers ranging from NGBs to local coaches to ensure that the local activity offer can cope with a very diverse range of participants and give people access to activities they may not previously have had sight of.
Diane Farmer is the Partnership Development Manager for Kings Park Moving Together, one of the 12 Sport England funded local delivery pilots.

15.30 – 16.00 Panel debate
16.00 – 16.15 Conclusion and finish
