Sports and physical activities can be a powerful tool for social inclusion, creating a strong sense of community and togetherness. This is particularly important in times of hardship, whether due to economic crisis, health crisis, poverty, natural disaster or conflict. When combined with psychosocial support, various sports and physical activities can universally benefit diverse groups across cultures and geography.

 

Moving Together: Promoting psychosocial well-being through sport and physical activity is a handbook designed to enable practitioners

and experts in sociology, psychology, social work, sport and physical education to provide psychosocial support programmes to people in

crisis situations. The included carefully-planned sport activities create a safe and friendly setting for expressing and addressing problems and fears, while helping participants gain confidence, resilience, coping skills and hope. At the core of the handbook is a holistic, all-inclusive approach with attention to socio-cultural relevance, so the activities are appropriate for use in many different cultural and geographical contexts.

 

The first part of the handbook explains the theoretical framework for sport and physical activities in psychosocial support interventions. The second part presents 28 activity cards that explain how to facilitate the activities, how they can be adapted to suit different circumstances,

and how they can be used as a basis for discussion and reflection. The third part explains how to facilitate psychosocial interventions with sport and physical activities and how to set up interventions and programmes from the initial assessment to the exit strategy.

 

© International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Reference Centre for Psychosocial Support, 2014