Free Your Instinct
Esprit Concrete: FYI is a dynamic charity that brings together the evidence and experience of both Esprit Concrete and Free Your Instinct to fully and holistically support mental health through parkour/ art du deplacement and Esprit Concretes’ parkour therapeutic methods
Our Classes
Our sessions are personalised to fit around the needs of the individual whatever their goal be it a more therapeutic focus or an activity based environment.
Each session is delivered by our team of trusted professional coaches and supervised by a health professional, ensuring that psychological and physical aims for the practice are achieved.
Throughout sessions, coaches emphasise the concept of safety and self-preservation, risk management, unity as a group, supporting other members, body mechanics and basic physiology, respect of people/materials and commitment/decision making. Classes therefore utilise parkour to develop skills.
Our Classes
Our sessions are personalised to fit around the needs of the individual whatever their goal be it a more therapeutic focus or an activity based environment.
Each session is delivered by our team of trusted professional coaches and supervised by a health professional, ensuring that psychological and physical aims for the practice are achieved.
Throughout sessions, coaches emphasise the concept of safety and self-preservation, risk management, unity as a group, supporting other members, body mechanics and basic physiology, respect of people/materials and commitment/decision making. Classes therefore utilise parkour to develop skills such as:
Our Coaches
At Esprit Concrete: FYI all coaches are qualified and recognised by Parkour UK. Every session will be run by two coaches to ensure participants receive as much support as possible. This will usually take the form of a Lead Coach and an Assistant Coach.
LEAD COACHES are recognised to at least NVQ level 2 qualification in Parkour Coaching. They are highly experienced practitioners with great ability. They design, plan and lead the session, ensuring inclusivity and safety.
ASSISTANT COACHES are qualified to at least NVQ level 1, and are experienced practitioners. They assist lead coaches with delivery of the class whilst also monitoring each individual, offering 1:1 support where needed.
Many of the EC: FYI coaches are further trained as specialist coaches to work with:
Volunteer With Us
ECI:FY run regular events throughout the year, from the Balance Marathon, to our birthday Jam and Cake coffee morning, enabling more people to #GiveParkourAGo. These events would be impossible without the support from our volunteers and supporters.
We are therefore looking to create a Volunteer Events Committee to help with these projects. With support from the Events Coordinator, the Volunteer Events Committee is an essential part of the success of EC:FYI events.
We are looking for anyone with a passion for festivals, fun runs, parties and pastries (this list is not exhaustive) to assist with the development of our events throughout the year, including:
Donate
Esprit Concrete: FYI offers parkour coaching to help manage mental health.
If you would like more information on joining one of our classes, supporting our work by offering a donation or working as a volunteer, please contact us on info@freeyourinstinct.org.
For latest news visit our social media pages.
EC:FYI offers a truly innovative means of supporting mental health and wellbeing that directly tackles the individual’s relationship with themselves and their environment. Our sessions frequently support those who typically disengage from mainstream services, allowing them to physically engage with emotions when they may not yet feel ready to talk about them. We are able to continue to provide this innovative inclusive practice to some of the most vulnerable populations, most at risk of the inequalities of mental health because of generous donations from supporters like you.
Making a donation, however big or small, is a great way to support our vital work. Having a steady and reliable income during uncertain times allows us to plan and safeguard the future of EC:FYI services.
Governance
Esprit Concrete:FYI is a registered charity (number 1160961). We have a Board of Trustees who are volunteers appointed for their range of skills and experiences. They govern the charity by setting the strategic direction and business plan and meet regularly as a Board. Current Trustees are:
Chair
Kevin Gargini
After completing a BA at the University of Brighton in Hospitality Management, Kevin Gargini joined the police service and has over two decades of experience, mainly working as an offender manager.
He has been awarded a Long Service and Good
Conduct Medal.
Kevin is an experienced mentor and addiction practitioner, and has achieved a Diploma in Youth Crime and Development from Roehampton University.
He is a dedicated advocate and trustee for mental health and neurodiversity awareness charities.
Alongside this, he is the owner of award winning nonprofit company, Gargini Will Services.
Kevin’s passion is to see people grow, succeed and fulfil their potential. His favourite quote is from Desmond Tutu: “We need to stop pulling people out of the river. Some of us need to go upstream and find out why they are falling in”
Kristen Natale
Kristen is passionate about the power of volunteering to make a difference to people and communities and has worked in the charity/non-profit sector for over 10 years. Kristen is currently Head of Volunteering at Sport England and has held that role for five years. She has led their national Volunteering Fund and worked on developing insight and projects to explore new approaches to increasing diversity and innovation in sport and physical activity volunteering. Prior to this Kristen led the Volunteering Development Unit at the National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) which led on influencing national volunteering policy and practice and coordinated Volunteers Week in England. She has authored a range of practical guides and training on volunteer management for organisations across sectors.
Stephen Lenton
Stephen has 24 years’ experience working in the Charity sector including as Director of Human Resources for a large and complex Charity in social care. He previously worked in senior positions in HR & general management in the NHS and power engineering sectors and also worked as a part time Tutor in Business Strategy with the Open University. He currently works as a volunteer consultant for small charities. He holds an MBA and CIPD qualifications.
Kasturi Torchia
Dr Kasturi Torchia is a BPS award winning HCPC registered Senior Highly Specialised Counselling Psychologist. Her doctoral research pioneered burnout theory generation within the context of parkour, research that informed her development of The Esprit Concrete Method. This method saw art du deplacement and and parkour used as a medium for positive mental health change through combining the movement discipline with integrated therapeutic approaches like CBT, psychodynamic and person centred modalities. Kasturi was Parkour UK’s first Mental Health Lead and also acts as a visiting lecturer in various universities in the UK and internationally. Kasturi, with a background in forensic, PICU and acute inpatient settings, works to lead engagement with both movement and therapy in some of the hardest to reach populations. Kasturi has published work across various platforms to date, setting up Esprit Concrete Ltd eight years ago.
Charley Hobson-Merrett
Charley hobson-merret is a mental health researcher at Plymouth University
Sarah Nickless
Sarah Nickless heads up partnership and programme development at the Football association. As a trustee of EC:FYI she is supporting the participant development pathway for participants