The positive impact of boccia

Hear personal and moving accounts from boccia players, Vaibhav, Roxanne, and Craig, and coach Sheila, about how playing boccia improves their physical and mental wellbeing.

 

Craig's story

Roxanne's story (content warning: suicide is mentioned within this film)

Sheila's story

Vaibhav's story

If you are affected in any way by the content of any of the films, please visit our seek further support page for details of organisations that can support your mental health and wellbeing.

 

Wellbeing webinar series 2023

• Positive Thinking with Stephen Miller

Stephen Miller delivered an engaging online experience about the power of positive thinking, which has enabled Stephen to have a successful career as a professional athlete spanning over four decades. The video content here provides a summary of the topics Stephen discussed, allowing you to hear from Stephen about how you can develop a positive mindset.

I'm a 6-time British Paralympic athlete. I competed at Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012, and Rio 2016. I've won 6 Paralympic medals, including 3 Gold medals in the sport of athletics.

I was born with cerebral palsy, and while it challenges me every day of my life, I was instilled with a tremendously positive attitude by my parents, as well as many great coaches and mentors along the way. They taught me how to harness the energy of positive thinking to overcome and embrace adversity.

Throughout my years as a professional athlete, I've come to realise that life is full of adversity, struggle, and challenge, but it's in these moments when we feel most alive and can have our greatest achievements.
I've helped many people overcome adversity with positive thinking and now I want to inspire even more people.

Follow the links below for short videos from Stephen on topics covered in the webinar:

Positive Mindset

Performing Under Pressure

Resilience

Goal Setting

• 5 ways to wellbeing with Mind

This webinar explored how the 5 ways to wellbeing can help to support and manage our mental health with Karen Shaw, Physical Activity Sector Support Lead at Mind.

These 5 ways to wellbeing are

• Connect

• Be active

• Take notice

• Learn

• Give

We spent a short time on each, sharing ideas and trying out some activities. We all have our own ways of learning and taking in information and you will be able to engage in the activities of this webinar in a way that is comfortable for you and enables you to take away an understanding of how one or all of the five ways can support you with your wellbeing.

 

Stories

We have a range of stories from players, parents, and volunteers who share how boccia has helped them.

Stories

Supporting Positive Mental Wellbeing Webinar

In 2021, Hayley Jarvis, Head of Physical Activity at Mind, delivered a webinar which explored the relationship between playing and volunteering in boccia and mental health. During the session, Hayley discussed practical techniques to support you and your participants to thrive. She also identified resources to support positive mental health and provided information on how to access professional mental health support.

The webinar covered; an introduction to what we mean by mental wellbeing and mental health, taking care of yourself and others during the pandemic, the Five Ways to Wellbeing, why it's good to talk and further support available.