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Referral pathway

For professionals

A simple route to refer parents into free, specialist-led parent & baby fitness across Ipswich, Colchester and Stowmarket.

Who can refer

Any health or social care professional working with pregnant or postnatal parents can signpost or refer into Startstrong Fitness CIC.

  • Health visitors
  • Midwives
  • GPs and practice nurses
  • Social prescribers
  • Family support workers
  • Perinatal mental health teams

Suitable for

  • Pregnant women seeking safe, adapted exercise
  • Postnatal parents — including caesarean recovery
  • Parents experiencing isolation, low mood, postnatal anxiety, postnatal depression and other maternal/paternal mental health conditions
  • Parents who cannot access childcare for exercise
  • Babies up to approximately 18 months

Referral pathway

  1. 1

    Identify a suitable parent

    Pregnant or postnatal parents (babies up to ~18 months) who would benefit from gentle, specialist-led exercise and community support — including those experiencing isolation, a postnatal mental health disorder or other mental health concern, or physical recovery needs.

  2. 2

    Share Startstrong Fitness CIC details

    Direct them to our classes page to browse the timetable and book, or complete the referral form below on their behalf.

  3. 3

    Parent attends — we take it from there

    The parent will need GP sign-off to exercise before attending. Once cleared, our coaches provide a welcoming, adapted session — no further clinical handover is required.

Clinical & social alignment

  • Perinatal mental health

    Classes provide structured, low-barrier social contact and gentle activity — both recognised protective factors for postnatal wellbeing.

  • Physical recovery

    Pre and postnatal specialist coaches adapt exercises for caesarean recovery, pelvic floor concerns and other postnatal conditions.

  • Health inequalities

    Classes are free and grant-funded, removing financial barriers that often prevent access to postnatal fitness and support.

  • Social isolation

    A regular, local group that parents can attend with their baby — no separate childcare required.

Evidence base

  • Over 500 families supported since January 2024 — verified against booking records
  • 5.0 average rating across 30 publicly posted reviews
  • BBC-featured "bring your baby" fitness model
  • University of Suffolk research partnership to 2030
  • Delivered by pre/postnatal specialist coaches

Full impact & outcomes →

Download our impact summary (PDF)

Commissioner-facing overview of reach, outcomes and alignment.

Refer a parent

If you would like to refer a parent to our free classes, please complete the form below. We'll get back to you within a few days.

Registered with the ICO (ref ZC182020).

Before you refer: what the parent needs to have agreed to

Before you tick the consent box, please make sure the parent has agreed to all four of these. They are what makes the consent valid rather than assumed.

  • Who we are — Startstrong Fitness CIC, a community interest company running free parent and baby fitness classes.
  • What you will be sending us — their name, your contact details, which class locations suit them, and why you are referring them. ⚠️ We no longer accept clinical detail or free text about a parent: if something is genuinely needed before a place is offered, phone or email rather than putting it on the form.
  • What we will use it for — arranging a suitable and safe class for them, and nothing else.
  • That we keep it for one year and then delete it, and that they can ask us to delete it sooner at any time.

Please also point them at our privacy page, which is written for them rather than for you. We hold no contact details for the parent by design, so we cannot write to them ourselves — you are the only route there is. Send them this page.

Optional. If you give it we use it only to recognise your referral when we reply to you — it is not stored in our records.

Why are you referring them?

Select any that apply. ⚠️ Please do not send clinical detail, diagnoses or a written account of the parent’s health — we do not need it and we no longer collect it. They will complete their own health questionnaire when they book, which is what our coaches use.

If there is something we genuinely need to know before offering a place, please phone or email us rather than writing it here.

Preferred location(s)

Select all that apply — this helps us suggest the right class.

Please include only the detail we need to offer a suitable, safe class. Our privacy policy explains how we handle referral information, how long we keep it, and how you or the parent can raise a concern about it.

Please pass this on to the parent: what we hold about someone who has been referred. We store no way of contacting them, so you are the only route we have.

Ready to refer a parent?

Use the referral form above, share our classes page with a parent, or browse the timetable together.

Go to referral formView class timetable