Mick

Achieving Active Lives

SAMH’s Achieving Active Lives Programme has helped Mick and Gareth see huge improvements to their mental and physical health

Mick and Gareth both encountered regular bouts of depression and anxiety and felt they weren’t in control of their mental health.

The Achieving Active Lives programme has helped them keep to a regular routine of physical activity which has led to a huge improvement in their physical and mental health.

Achieving Active Lives is a 16-week programme which is designed primarily to help men aged 18 and over live a more active lifestyle and better manage their overall health. Through tailored sessions, SAMH practitioners work with participants on a one-to-one basis, helping to build a routine of regular physical activity that supports positive mental health.

If you are currently inactive and experiencing mild to moderate mental health problems such as low mood, anxiety, depression or low confidence find out more here 

Mick's story 

Before Achieving Active Lives, I wasn’t feeling great at all. I was anxious, depressed, and I just wasn’t in a good place.

Since starting the programme, and after being on it for 16 weeks, there has been a definite change. My depression has went away, and I feel I’ve started to achieve more. I’ve been going to the gym, getting out more, and getting more walks in. I’m filling my days.

Now, I have a routine which I didn’t have before. I’m waking up early, getting outside and getting fresh air into my lungs. I do this near enough every morning.

Overall it’s been excellent. I’ve got a new way of thinking. Rather than looking for excuses not to do things, I’m thinking ‘aye let’s do that’, or ‘let’s look at that’.

I’m thinking more positively, not thinking about the negatives.

Gareth's story

I've always had a rocky relationship with my mental health since I was a teenager, with regular and protracted bouts of depression and near constant anxiety. One of the most troubling aspects of this has been feeling like I lack control over my mental wellbeing.

I found out about Achieving Active Lives (AAL) through the Community Links worker at my GP's surgery. Initially I was skeptical, having engaged with other help/resources in the past but also due to this ingrained view I had of myself as being somehow uniquely incapable of actually changing, despite how much I might want to. 

My experience was positive from the get go. The programme has helped me greatly in several ways. It has helped enable me to plan and carry out activities, to reflect positively on what I have done, whether I have achieved the goals set or not and helped me to be less rigid in my thinking, getting away from this debilitating "success or failure" mindset. It has also helped in managing extreme and unhelpful thoughts, as well as managing anxiety out in the world. I am more confident now than I can ever remember feeling before.

My mental health has definitely improved markedly and I am much more active on a regular basis, even on a small scale such as combining a trip out for groceries with a nice walk, rather than just going to the local shops and straight back.

The reality is that my mental health issues haven't vanished, of course, I still struggle from time to time, however now I am much better equipped to manage and I am generally trending upwards overall.

Probably the main goal I focussed on from the start of the programme was to address my physical health and fitness. Toward that end, I started planning visits to the gym with the idea being to work to create a positive and achievable routine, while remaining flexible in my planning and learning to be kind to myself if and when plans didn't go as expected, or goals weren't achieved.

Three months on from completing the programme, I'm going to the gym more often and extending my workouts, and I'm looking to join a judo class. Furthermore, I'm re-engaging with social groups I had fallen away from prior to starting the programme and I am planning on starting an Open Uni course next year.

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