We know that opportunities to participate in and contribute to sport programs provide young people with a sense of belonging, mastery, generosity, and mattering. However, there is a darker side of the youth sport experience: injuries, burnout, over-scheduling, and pressure to succeed. Yet while we hear about broken bones, tendons and ligaments, one health area is still kept in the shadows of the sporting world: mental health problems.
Mind Your Sports Mates is a short, concise educative deliverable tailored for young people to help build awareness around mental health problems and how to identify someone who may be thinking about suicide. mind your sports mates
Many sportspeople have revealed their battles with mental health problems, including depression, anxiety and self- harm, role modelling to others that it is better to speak up rather than to struggle in silence. Coaches, umpires, physical education teachers, trainers, sports administrators, parents and others involved in facilitating sports and recreation activities are important gatekeepers to watch out for young sports people who may be experiencing mental health issues.
More importantly, perhaps, is the ability for peers to have a degree of awareness around what signs to look out for. One of the biggest influencing factors when it comes to mental health problems is being able to find support from the people around you. Thus, for young people to encourage help- seeking behaviour within the frame of minding your sports mates adds another layer of de-stigmatising mental health problems.
Says Katie: ‘I have delivered this insightful program to over 2,000 young people on the Central Coast over the past few years and it always astounds me how much this so short program makes a so big impact.’
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