Canal River Trust

City: Liverpool

Project: Impact Sefton: Let’s Paddle for Positive Change

Impact Sefton: Let’s Paddle for Positive Change is a collaborative initiative between Canal & River Trust, Impact Sefton, Sefton Council’s Pupil Referral Unit School, and GroundsWell. Grounded in co-design principles, the project aims to explore and harness the potential of urban green and blue spaces, specifically the Trust’s waterways, to enhance the physical and mental wellbeing of young people struggling to meet the demands of mainstream education. The project will employ a train-the-trainer approach to support staff and students to grow together by co-developing an intervention programme delivered by the Trust and Impact Sefton. The project aims to develop a sustainable offer at Impact Sefton through the establishment of a paddlesport hub and deliver a comprehensive paddlesport training programme. The project will also deliver a co-developed enrichment programme to improve physical activity and wellbeing among students and staff through paddlesport. The Trust care for a 2,000-mile-long, 200-year-old network of canals, rivers, reservoirs, and docks, connecting many of the UK's urban and rural areas. Its vision is to transform places and enrich lives. Let’s is our national participatory campaign; free and local programmes focused on physical, health, and wellbeing activities. Our goal is to embed these activities into the community, growing them into a sustainable offer where local organisations are trained to deliver the programmes themselves.