Physical activity for health training

Get the training you need to help your patients reduce their risk of major diseases.

Being physically active reduces our risk of major diseases by up to 50% and depression by up to 30%. But quarter of the adult population are not active enough to maintain good health.

Health professionals can be great champions for moving more. Patients trust you. And you regularly meet people living with long-term conditions, who are twice as likely to be inactive. So we want to help you become confident physical activity champions.

Moving Medicine is the ultimate online tool to help health professionals champion active lives. The website contains step-by-step guides, online courses and videos to help you get started.

We run several training cohorts across the year especially for social prescribers. The training increases the skills and confidence of the attendees in order to understand the importance of being physically active and to role that has to play with social, mental and physical wellbeing.  

The content includes how to integrate physical activity into social prescribing, an overview of the key research and evidence on behaviour change and physical activity and a focus on engaging specific groups who may face additional barriers.

Dates for the next training are TBC. If you’re interested in taking part please email aimee.cadman@energiseme.org

The BMJ e-learning course takes a practical approach to equip mental healthcare professionals with the necessary tools to confidently discuss physical activity within the context of talking therapy i.e. NHS Talking Therapies services.

This 60-minute digital course is designed to be completed at your convenience and features five short, interactive micro-learning sections.

Content includes:

The latest evidence on the benefits of physical activity and movement in treating and preventing depression, anxiety and low mood due to a long-term physical health condition, as well as the NICE guidance on the latest UK recommendations for physical activity in mental health conditions.

In addition, the course focuses on the practical application of knowledge and how to approach people living with mental health challenges in therapy sessions, including how to:

• start (and continue) conversations on physical activity
• assess and triage for physical activity (in a short amount of time)
• personalise and incorporate physical activity within treatment plans e.g. as part of behavioural activation for depression
• appropriate use of motivational interviewing techniques and behavioural change models e.g. COM-B
• ensure changes are sustainable in the long term
• signpost to relevant resources, information and community-based help

Suitable for Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners (PWPs), clinicians, low- and high-intensity therapists, group and 1-2-1 therapists and clinical and service leads.​ Plus generalist health care professionals.

This free training is worth 1.0 CPD points and is supported by Sport England and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID).

We want to work with health professionals and help you champion physical activity. So please get in touch to chat about training or how we could work together to create happier, healthier and stronger communities.