Green & Blue Social Prescribing
For the past few years the NHS has begun to explore a more holistic, person centred approach to medicine, recognising the value of services which provide alternatives to medication. Whilst not a fix, all prescribing a patient with activities involving the arts or sport creates space, bonds and opportunities to connect through a shared experience. The impacts can be incredibly powerful and have long lasting benefits that can be far more effective than prescribing the same pills and medication that often treat the symptom not the cause.
Blue therapy - Wild swimming for wellbeing
We use wild swimming as a tool to promote social connection, positive mental health and wellbeing. Our team run wild swimming programmes linked to several inner city health centres in Bristol. Many who live in very urban communities, rarely have the opportunity to access green spaces let alone wild swimming. We use various venues including Henleaze Lake and West Country Water Park. Participants are referred in through the social prescribers attached to health centres and most people are struggling with a range of challenges including anxiety, depression, chronic pain and social isolation. There is a directory of all Green Social Prescribing services in Bristol available here. You can view a short informational film about our wild swim for wellbeing programme below.
Here’s what one of our participants had to say about our wild swimming for wellbeing social prescribing programme:
“I can’t thank Open Minds Active enough for providing the 6-week Wild Swim Programme which I accessed through Blue Social Prescribing. As someone who suffers with severe social anxiety and depression, the world around me is pretty small at the moment. Being referred for wild swimming by my Mental Health Team, has been one of the best experiences to have happened to me in a very long time. It has provided me with a tool kit to work towards a happier and healthier future. I not only was able to experience the benefits of wild swimming under the guidance of experts, but have also created a new social network. Many of us have agreed to continue swimming and meeting on a Thursday, which I feel so grateful for. Access to these programmes, is crucial, I would even go as far as to say life changing. It has broadened my horizons and is giving me opportunities alongside therapy and medication to support my own health and well-being. I can only hope that more and more people are lucky enough to get this experience in the future.”
How to get involved
If you have been suffering with mental or physical condition for a long time and you think this will help, then you can ask to be referred by your GP or social prescriber at your health centre. (Please note not every GP in the Bristol area knows about us yet!) We currently run a women only session on a Thursday morning, but our Henleaze session (Tuesday mornings) is open to all genders. Participants are not required to be amazing swimmers as this is about dips not distance, however we recommend you be able to swim a minimum of 25m. The lake is 1.5m deep all the way round so most people can touch the bottom.
If you are someone just looking for a social group, we run intro to cold water workshops in the autumn and winter and intro to open water swimming workshops in the spring and summer. These are affordable mornings where you learn about all the skills and we connect you with likeminded people who you can swim with. We also run a social swim group for women at 10-11.30am up at West Country Water Park term times, you need to book directly with the lake here.
Please note: Referrals are currently closed.
If you are a social prescriber or health care professional looking to refer people in. Please email referrals@openmindsactive.org and we will send through an information pack. We have 3 intakes a each year:
Current dates: DATES FOR 2025 WILL BE ANNOUNCED IN THE NEW YEAR
SELF REFERRAL - currently closed. We are part of a national study with the University of Portsmouth called Outside2. This study looks at how outdoor swimming can benefit those struggling with depression and anxiety. There will be another cohort in 2025 we will post updates here but you can also register through this website and not via our normal channels :)
