Developing skills of event organizers to foster integration of people with a mental health condition in orienteering sport

Main objective of the Flex-O Erasmus+ „Developing skills of event organizers to foster integration of people with a mental health condition in orienteering sport” project was to develop a standard...

Main objective of the Flex-O Erasmus+ „Developing skills of event organizers to foster integration of people with a mental health condition in orienteering sport” project was to develop a standardized format of offering a special outdoor activity (called Flex-O, Flexible Orienteering) to those with special needs, and provide training and pilot events for a group of organizers to enable them to integrate the necessary activities into their existing event organizing routines. Additional objectives were documenting the developed practices in order to make the knowledge reusable, making it available for further development, and sharing the best practices within the wider orienteering community. The final goal was to create a framework of practices, learning methods and digital educational material that together can be used at any place in the world (or at least where orienteering sport is widespread) to train people with existing basic sport event organising experience to be able to add those features to their sport events that make it open to those with mental challenges.

The most important activities in the Flex-O Erasmus+ project were: Develop expertise – what kind of (mental) health conditions are targeted by Flex-O. Our expert group reviewed the available literature to gather information on the physical and mental health effects of orienteering as a sporting activity. Our aim was to assess whether there are proven benefits for individuals with different mental challenges in terms of mental and physical development, with a particular focus on the young population. Development of exercises, digital materials – we created guides for event organizers, as well as guides for participants of Flex-O events, trying to determine the optimal task that they can perform and enjoy. A visual accessibility toolbox for orienteering maps was also created. Share knowledge – A very important activity of the project was to prepare the organizers to understand the objectives and apply the practices within (normal) event organization routines. We used a variety of educational methods, including online and in-person workshops, and on-the-job training at more than 19 orienteering events for the target group to practice exercises, provide feedback on experiences, and iterate through practice.

The most important outputs and results of the Flex-O Erasmus+ project are: A background study analysing the effects of orienteering as a sport activity on physical and mental health. In the study we evaluate proven benefits for individuals with different mental challenges in terms of mental and physical development, with a particular focus on the child and youth population and determine the conditions under which they can participate regularly in orienteering in an integrated setting. High quality digital tools: organizer’s guide (how to organize Flex-O events, including sample task maps and other useful information, in Hungarian and English), participant’s guide (what is Flex-O and who is it for), visual accessibility toolset (pictorial explanation of terrain features and checkpoints) 90 people from 24 different orienteering organizations in 2 countries who are familiar with the practices of integrating Flex-O in orienteering events. Many of them are ready to organise Flex-O events in the future and forward their knowledge We organised 19 pilot events involving 110 unique mentally challenged people in an inclusive way, as part of bigger orienteering events.