Darkside Rising C.I.C. has been awarded grants for two projects from Sport England’s Together Fund.

Darkside Rising is a non-profit organisation in Lincoln delivering a range of programmes to support women’s strength, health and empowerment. They work extensively with women who have poor mental health, are neurodivergent, or who are unable to access traditional exercise provision.

The two projects are:

Darkside Girls Project
£4988

The Darkside Girls Project will work with 16 neurodivergent girls aged 8 – 17 to improve their physical health, resilience and mental wellbeing through age-appropriate and specialist exercise and strength training sessions. The sessions will be led by a coach with lived experience of childhood mental health problems, who will support the neurodivergent girls to achieve their potential.

The project will encourage the girls taking part to raise their activity levels to 60 minutes per week, improve their mental and physical health and empower participant's understanding of their neurodivergence.

Darkside Open Gym
£4939

The Open Gym Project will create a well-equipped space for Darkside Rising CIC clients to exercise, free of charge, in a safe environment that they know and trust. Clients will be able to access Open Gym, at a time most convenient to them, over 7 days and up 50 hours per week, developing independence and choice in their physical activity. This will also support them to meet national exercise guidelines, further improving their physical and mental health.

This funding will enable Darkside Rising to purchase equipment to go into two bespoke areas of the gym, currently underused, that will become dedicated Open Gym areas for Darkside Rising CIC clients. With over 110 clients training on funded projects at the gym, there is a huge scope to empower them to meet national exercise guidelines, developing independence whilst ensuring that they have specialist support as needed.

A small amount of funding will also go towards coaching fees, teaching clients how to use this equipment safely and effectively, and encouraging them to use open gym in small groups to develop peer support and encouragement.

Find out more about the funding and successful programmes here.