Finding answers through sport to promote mental well-being and social inclusion is the objective of the pilot action “Pathways to Mental Well-being in Sport”, which will be presented by the metropolitan executive officer Orlando Leal on the 28th in Paredes. The initiative is part of the 4th Local Support Group meeting of the Porto Metropolitan Area’s (AMP) European project SportsCom.

The initiative, which will take place at the Paredes Multipurpose Pavilion, seeks to test a way to use sports activities to identify situations in which mental well-being support is needed and to direct people to the most appropriate responses.

The meeting will bring together representatives of the 17 municipalities of the AMP and the Portuguese Institute of Sport and Youth (IPDJ), reinforcing the regional cooperation around sport, as an instrument of health and social cohesion.

The session starts with the sharing of good practices and experiences of the Municipality of Paredes, hosting the meeting, followed by the presentation of the pilot action and a balance of interregional learning, with the main conclusions of the second study visit of SportsCom and the next activities of the project.

The programme also includes an IPDJ training dedicated to the Clube Top-Programa de Capacitação de Clubes Desportivos (Top Club - Training Programme for Sport Clubs), which is aimed at training clubs and optimizing the support measures made available by municipalities to local communities.

Co-financed by the Interreg Europe programme, SportsCom seeks to contribute to the improvement of regional development policies through sport, promoting the sharing of experiences and learning among European partners.

In this context, the next international study visit is scheduled for 27 and 28 October in Serbia, in partnership with Novi Sad's Regional Development Agency Backa. The meeting will have as its central theme the mechanisms and conditions necessary to make sports programmes more effective in promoting public health.