Open Minds Active female-only swim

Open Minds Active CIC is a social impact organisation working in and around Bristol. Its purpose is to strengthen mental health and wellbeing within communities, widen access and create opportunities for excluded citizens. Its work involves building a diverse and inclusive community of like minded people and programmes who benefit from connecting with nature and each other in the outdoors to reduce isolation, support wellbeing and foster positive mental health. It offers year-round programmes that tackle health inequalities, including a learn to swim project for adult women of colour and a social prescribing wild swimming for wellbeing project for people with long term mental and/or physical health conditions. In addition, OMA runs seasonal spring/summer wellbeing projects in the outdoors, featuring activities such as SUP, surfing, hiking, outdoor yoga and movement. OMA breaks down barriers for those who would not normally access the outdoors and facilitate a range of wellbeing workshops that empower participants to discover tools to not only support their own mental and physical health long term, but also encourage those around them. Its purpose is to strengthen wellbeing within communities, widen access to nature and create opportunities for excluded citizens. OMA has a collective vision of a society in which ‘wellbeing for all using our great outdoors’ is achieved. Its mission contributes to this vision as it delivers movement-based wellbeing activities across Bristol and South Gloucestershire that increase nature connectedness, improve mental health and reduce social isolation. On Wednesday evenings OMA runs beginners and improvers Learn to Swim sessions for women of colour at Jubilee Pool. The aim of this session is to address the inequity of cultural diversity within aquatics, to break down health inequalities and to provide welcoming and inclusive spaces for global majority women. OMA covers water safety and aquatic skills as well as introducing and developing the four strokes, with lessons tailored to meet the needs of the group and maximize progress. Please email the swim teacher Jordan for booking details and further information on the Wednesday programmes. Check out www.openmindsactive.org for more information on all the amazing programmes! Please note that the incredible wild swimming for wellbeing social prescribing project requires a referral from your health care centre’s social prescribing service.