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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.

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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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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