Littleborough's Tackling Minds to become first organisation to work with NHS in prescribing angling

Littleborough social club Tackling Minds – which aims to help people through fishing – is to become the first organisation to work alongside the NHS in prescribing fishing for those with mental health issues.

Tackling Minds has teamed up with the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust so that angling can be prescribed instead of antidepressants and anxiety medication.

Tackling Minds is a not for profit fishing organisation, which runs angling events for people who are suffering with mental health issues, social deprivation, addiction and recovery, families, disabilities and long-term health conditions.

It was founded in 2020, during lockdown, by David Lyons, who has personal experience of the very issues he is trying to help others with, including battling with alcohol addiction and anxiety.
 

Read more: Social club aims to tackle mental health concerns with fishingPublished: 04 February 2021

Social prescribing takes a holistic approach to people's health and wellbeing, by connecting people to community groups and statutory services for practical and emotional support rather than clinical services.

David says this is the first time fishing as been added as an official option for health care professionals.

He said: “This will be the first time in the whole of the United Kingdom that fishing has ever been used in this form, so it's going to be a huge achievement.

“Tackling Minds has been working tirelessly for months to make this happen. If a patient approaches a doctor with symptoms of mental health issues, instead of prescribing the patient medication, the patient can now be referred to use our service. It has now been recognised that fishing is an amazing alternative to prescription medication.”

 

 

David carried on: “There is a huge demand to use our service, and in order to reach a much wider audience, we now require transport (a van) and insurance. This would enable us to transport the large amount of equipment that we use to run our groups.

“At the moment, we are relying on our volunteers to transport the equipment to our chosen venues. Unfortunately, this has become a huge problem, as there isn't enough cars available for each session. This has limited us to the amount of sessions we are able to run.”

Whilst the group received £10,000 in funding from the National Lottery and financial support from Rochdale Council and the Angling Trust, which enabled it to purchase enough equipment, this has not covered the costs of a van and insurance.

“If we managed to raise enough funding to purchase our own vehicle and insurance, it would enable Tackling Minds to run our groups on a daily basis, without relying on our volunteers’ transport,” David added.

The Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust did not wish to comment.

To donate, please visit:

• www.gofundme.com/f/mental-health-the-benefits-of-fishing