Buckingham House Project

Buckingham House Peer Tennis Mental Health Project

Join the Buckhouse Bouncers on Tuesday the 11th of October to Celebrate Mental Health Month!!

Jensen’s Tennis has supported Buckingham House, a community based support service for people who have a psychiatric disability for more than 20 years.  Buckingham House is one of the many services provided by Psychiatric Rehabilitation Australia (PRA) and the Peer Tennis Project is a wonderful opportunity for members of Buckingham House to improve their tennis skills, physical health and emotional wellbeing.  PRA’s independent research notes that many people with a mental health issue rarely participate in physical exercise (Physical Health Survey Report Finding, Swan, 2009). Tennis provides fun physical activity that promotes a healthy lifestyle and connectedness in the community.

Thanks to a grant from the NSW Government Disability Sport Assistance Program Jensen’s Tennis and Buckingham House have been able to increase support and services to people with a mental health issue including mentoring members of Buckingham House as they undergo training to develop their tennis skills and even receive their coaching qualifications. We understand our project has been recognised as a template for best practise! Jensen’s has hosted community social tennis days in partnership with Buckingham House to promote NSW Mental Health Month and the role of tennis in helping individuals to ‘bounce back’ through the sport of tennis. We are extremely grateful for support from all our community partners including Tennis NSW and the City of Sydney. We are looking into ways to continue this project beyond the grant period so we can continue to provide further outreach to the community as we continue to promote knowledge of many health benefits of tennis and increase accessibility to people with a mental health issue.

For more information contact Buckingham House, Bethany or Kate on 02 9690 8983
bethany.m@pra.org.au

Special FREE Event: Tuesday the 11th of October at Prince Alfred Park Tennis Facility FREE SOCIAL TENNIS Mental Health Month!