Community Mental Health Team encourage colleagues to join challenge

17 March 2023

Hywel Dda University Health Board’s Carmarthen Community Mental Health Team are encouraging their NHS colleagues to put on their running shoes to help improve their health and wellbeing.

Steve Plumb, Specialist Practitioner in Adult Community Mental Health has been coordinating team runs after work in Carmarthen and the team have now completed the eight-week NHS Couch to 5K training plan and regularly participate in Llanelli’s Parkrun event.

Engaging in regular physical activity such as the Couch to 5k challenge can have numerous benefits for both physical and mental health.

In addition, being outdoors and taking notice of the world around us contributes to our five ways to wellbeing (opens in new tab), a well-being equivalent of ‘five fruit and vegetables a day’. 

It is recommended that people build the Five Ways into their daily life to improve their well-being by connecting with people, being active, taking note of the world around us, continuous learning and giving.

Steve Plumb, says: “We decided to undertake this challenge because of the physical and mental benefits to us as individuals and to engage together as a team.

“Taking part in a challenge like NHS Couch to 5K can help anyone to take a gradual approach and build up fitness gradually over time.

“It's fantastic that members from different professions within the mental health team are participating in this challenge including nurses, social workers, doctors, and admin staff and we strongly encourage other teams to think about doing something similar to help and support each other on their fitness and wellbeing journey.”

The NHS Couch to 5K app can be downloaded here from the Google Play Store and here for Apple app store.