Community Spotlight - Club Doncaster

Jobseekers using our government funded employability services are given access to additional support from our network of community partners to help them overcome their barriers to work. These partnerships enhance our services and provide invaluable additional and specialist support to individuals seeking to enter the job market.

One of our community partners is the Club Doncaster Foundation, a registered charity that provides their local community with opportunities to engage in sport and physical activity.

The Mental Health Foundation highlights that physical activity can ease symptoms of mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. Mental health conditions are the largest reason for the working-age population being out of work due to long-term sickness, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

The Club Doncaster Foundation offers participants using our local delivery of Better Working Futures and Work Routes - our names for the DWP’s Work and Health Programme Core and Pioneer services - free access to their eight-week adult fitness course ‘Fit Rovers’, alongside a discounted gym membership to provide better accessibility to fitness. The programme also offers participants nutritional guidance and exercise sessions, tailored to the needs of the individual.

Ben Howe, Health and Wellbeing Officer at the Club Doncaster Foundation, commented: “Our partnership with the Reed in Partnership Doncaster office began when we were invited to attend one of their local Health and Wellbeing events. This was a great opportunity to connect with other providers in the area and local service users. The event led to many positive conversations with participants and staff, and we were then invited to deliver an overview of our offer to the team and explain how individuals could be signposted to us for support.

“Since then, we’ve attended further events and have interacted with even more participants and providers to expand our outreach. Reed in Partnership has referred multiple participants to our Fit Rovers courses and we have even more of their participants joining our upcoming courses.

“We look forward to attending more Health and Wellbeing events and exploring other ways in which we can work together in the future.''

Zeta Leigh-Rae, Health and Wellbeing Adviser in our Doncaster office, shared: “After completing our 13-week in-house Healthy Lifestyle programme, which supports with weight management, sleep patterns and mindfulness, our participants are given the opportunity to continue their health journey with the Club Doncaster Foundation, through their Fit Rovers programme.

“To support our participants, Ben and the team provided a tailored programme designed for the group to receive support together. This helped to ease anxiety within the cohort as they already knew each other and had built relationships. Some participants had already lost up to two stone in weight through our support and continue to lose weight through the Fit Rovers programme, greatly improving their health and boosting their confidence for their job search.”

Our community partners are key in supporting us to create positive change and make a lasting difference in people’s lives. We remain dedicated to helping people into meaningful employment so we can fulfil our mission of positively transforming people and their communities.