Creating Safer Spaces Across the Leisure Sector
In March 2026, Together Active strengthened its commitment to safeguarding and wellbeing through the launch of Safer Spaces, Stronger Minds, led by our Safeguarding and Welfare Advisor.
This initiative brings together a programme of conferences, training, and ongoing support to help leisure, fitness, and activity providers create environments that are not only welcoming, but safe.
Delivered in partnership with Active Derbyshire, Safer Spaces, Stronger Minds supports providers to build confidence, knowledge, and strong safeguarding cultures across their organisations.
Building Safer, More Supportive Environments
Our work focuses on helping providers feel confident, equipped, and supported to create spaces that are safe, inclusive, and welcoming for everyone.
Through high-quality training and shared learning, we support organisations to strengthen their policies, procedures, and everyday practice. This includes developing strong approaches to:
- Safety, safeguarding, and welfare
- Risk management and duty of care
- Inclusion and accessibility
- Staff wellbeing and support
Our programmes upskill providers to identify and manage risks, respond confidently to safeguarding concerns, signpost to appropriate support, and protect both customers and staff.
By embedding good practice at every level, we help organisations move beyond compliance and towards genuine cultures of care where people feel protected, respected, and valued.
Driving System Change
Safer Spaces, Stronger Minds is about more than individual training sessions. It is focused on influencing long-term, system-wide change across the leisure and fitness sector. Our ambition is to raise standards, strengthen safeguarding systems, encourage shared responsibility, and promote transparency, learning, and sustainable improvement. Through ongoing engagement and partnership, we aim to ensure that providers are not left to navigate these challenges alone, but are supported to create lasting, positive change.
Our Commitment
We are committed to offering continuous guidance, resources, and professional support to providers as they develop safer, more inclusive spaces. By working collaboratively and advocating for high standards, we are helping to shape a sector where wellbeing, protection, and dignity are embedded in everyday practice, creating stronger, safer spaces for everyone.
Our Commitment to Wellbeing at Work
In January 2026, Together Active launched our Happiness Manifesto, a shared commitment to prioritising wellbeing, joy, and collective care in the workplace.
Created by our team, for our team, the manifesto reflects our belief that happy, healthy people are central to meaningful and sustainable impact.
Through open conversations, staff workshops, and reflective discussions, we explored what happiness at work truly means. When we asked what mattered most, clear themes emerged: feeling valued, having balance, being trusted, and having space to grow.
Leading Change Through Action
We want to be leaders of positive change, not only within our sector, but across the wider system.
We believe organisations have a responsibility to respond to wellbeing challenges, not just through policies, but through meaningful, everyday actions that make work feel healthier, more supportive, and more human.
Our Happiness Manifesto commits us to:
- Protecting staff time, energy, and wellbeing
- Encouraging creative and flexible ways of working
- Supporting collaboration and shared learning
- Valuing knowledge, skills, and lived experience
- Creating space for reflection and growth
By leading by example, we hope to inspire other organisations to develop their own happiness manifesto shaped by their team and grounded in their values.
Trialling a Four-Day Working Week
As part of our commitment to wellbeing and positive workplace culture, from October 2025 to March 2026 we have been trialling a four-day working week on a fortnightly basis.
This approach gives our team dedicated time to:
- Focus on personal interests and passions
- Rest and recharge
- Be active in ways that work for them
- Spend quality time with family and friends
As an organisation working to support communities across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent to be more active, we recognise the powerful link between movement, mental health, and wellbeing.
We also understand that full-time work can sometimes limit opportunities to be active. This trial aims to address that, supporting staff to look after their physical and mental health while maintaining high-quality work.
We hope this approach boosts wellbeing, morale, and productivity, and that our learning will encourage other employers to explore people-centred ways of working.
Why It Matters
Across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, challenges relating to mental and physical health are real and ongoing. Stress, long working hours, and limited work-life balance can have a greater impact than we sometimes recognise. As an organisation rooted in community wellbeing, we believe it is essential to start with ourselves. By investing in our team, listening to their needs, and embedding wellbeing into our culture, we aim to: Build a healthier workplace, strengthen our impact in communities, model positive leadership and create sustainable ways of working.
Our Invitation
We invite other organisations, partners, and employers to explore our Happiness Manifesto and consider how similar principles could support their own teams. Together, we can build healthier, more supportive, and more human workplaces where people feel valued, motivated, and able to thrive.