Fellow’s Profile
Matt Waugh
Fellow’s Profile
Matt Waugh
Exercise in mental health care
Fellowship
Themes
Focus
Introducing exercise as a treatment option in mental healthcare
Countries
Fellowship year
2020
Supported by
Locality
London
Biography
I am a mental health nurse and fitness instructor on a psychiatric intensive care unit with interests in mental health, lifestyle psychiatry, physical activity, substance misuse and addiction. We care for patients with severe mental illness (SMI) schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and bipolar.
I have a lifestyle psychiatry role, looking at how exercise, nutrition, sleep and meditation improve health outcomes, alongside medication. I founded Live More, a social enterprise to improve lifestyle psychiatry, winning a place on Kings20 Accelerator.
My Churchill Fellowship will be in Australia, to learn how we can improve lifestyle psychiatry across inpatient and community mental health services. I will be learning from services such as Keeping the Body in Mind (KBIM) in Sydney.
Lifestyle psychiatry is important because the SMI mortality gap is increasing. Statistics show people with schizophrenia die on average 18 years earlier than the rest of the population. With lifestyle support people with SMI can enjoy full lives.
I am on the NHS's Clinical Entrepreneur programme and want to improve lifestyle psychiatry for people with alcohol problems, substance misuse and addiction. I live in south London and am a Crystal Palace fan.
Disclaimer
All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.
Disclaimer
All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.