Nuffield Health has today (30 September) acquired cognitive behavioural therapy business CBT Services, enabling the not-for-profit healthcare organisation to add an emotional wellbeing provision to its growing list of health and wellbeing services.

 Launching initially to businesses for employee support, the emotional wellbeing service – comprising cognitive behavioural therapy, counselling and general psychological therapies – will then roll out to Nuffield Health’s 112 consumer fitness and wellbeing gyms and 31 hospitals over the next few months.

The services – designed to provide coping skills and support for stress, anxiety and depression – will be available to all, regardless of a gym membership.

In his recent interview with Health Club Management (HCM Aug 16), Nuffield Health CEO Steve Gray said that, in the fitness sector, “few people do emotional wellbeing very well”, adding: “You need to bring fitness, nutrition and emotional wellbeing together to create a bespoke response for the individual. That sort of personalised, holistic approach is, I believe, the biggest opportunity in the health and fitness market at the moment.”

And the acquisition is a particularly timely one, coming off the back of last week’s Commons Public Accounts Committee report which found that, while one in four adults has a mental illness at some point in their lives, just a quarter get the help they need. 

Speaking today about the decision to acquire CBT Services, Gray said: “This acquisition provides a missing piece of the jigsaw in our health and wellbeing proposition. Emotional health is just as important as our physical health – it’s a vital service. We hope to normalise and remove the stigma associated with asking for emotional health support and enable people to feel good inside and out.”

Founder and clinical director of CBT Services, Mick Gillingham, added: “I’m energised by the prospect of working with an extensive range of healthcare professionals, where jointly we can provide a comprehensive treatment package to patients.”

The new service joins the wide range of products and services already available at Nuffield Health’s wellbeing gyms, including nutritional therapy, physiotherapy, occupational health, health assessments, fitness training, employee wellbeing, hospital procedures and diagnostics.

The CBT Services purchase also complements Nuffield Health’s existing employee wellbeing programme, which includes mindfulness sessions, bespoke wellbeing education events focusing on subjects such as sleep and nutrition, webinar programmes and group and individual emotional resilience coaching.

 Today’s announcement comes on the back of Nuffield Health’s acquisition of 35 Virgin Active gyms (1 August 2016), making Nuffield Health the second biggest fitness provider in the UK by number of consumer sites.

To read Steve Gray’s August interview in full – click here.

For further information on Nuffield Health’s acquisition of 35 Virgin Active clubs – click here.