Erasmus+ Sport, Small Collaborative Partnership

    The strong link between physical activity and mental health has been verified by a number of researches. According to the WHO Statistics; taking part in a physical activity increases the sense of belonging to the community so that it eliminates the social isolation. Besides, physical activity affects psychological well – being in a positive way as it ensures a reduced risk against depression and anxiety. It is especially important that active living has significant improvement on the mental health of children and young people as well as it improves the life quality in elder ages.

     Besides reducing depression, anxiety and stress, physical activity improves the perception of self-image, especially for women, and empowers self-confidence. It is clearly understood that active living has a wide range of affects from physical well-being to improvement social and cognitive skills which have a direct impact on mental health and wellbeing. As a result, it occurs a need for a stronger connection and multidisciplinary approach between sport and mental health. Our project has been built on making a contribution to this need.

General objectives of Stress Management Through Physical Activation, are:

• to envisage sport and mental health practices in a supportive and collaborative approach

• to develop sportive methods to tackle with negative effects of current social changes

• to encourage social inclusion and equal opportunities in sport

• The use of sport as a didactical tool to communicate vital health-related information to ‘at risk’ groups;

• Promoting sport to contribute to achieving mental health objectives, including addressing depression and stressrelated disorders.

• to coordinate exchanging of ideas in a highest and European level

• to make the physical exercise a part of everyday life of individuals (youth and adults)

• to increase sense of belonging and self-confidence while reducing stress and depression

We have divided our work plans as below (WP) into 5 phases in project duration:

1. Project Coordination and Building the Process:2021 January – 2021 February

2. Content Design: 2021 March – 2021 May

3. Practical Implementation: 2021 June – 2021 September

4. Promotion of the Project and Innovative Approaches: 2021 October – 2022 April

5. Final Strategies: 2022 May – 2022 June

Outputs of the project are:

• Digital Booklet

• TIPS for NGOs – Booklet