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An awareness of mental health problems and how they affect the people you coach is essential to running great sessions. UK Coaching, our awarding body 1st4sport, and our partners – Mind and Sport England – have decided to reduce the cost of this course and so it is available at £10. UK Coaching Club Premium Members enjoy a 20% discount on the course.

Mental Health Awareness for Sport and Physical Activity+ (2023)

UK Coaching and Mind

Gain the confidence to support people experiencing mental health problems effectively and learn how to empower positive change and development. This course has been updated in 2023

Developed by:

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Funded by:

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What's New?

This course has been updated in 2023. It is now even more accessible for people from all backgrounds and walks of life and contains new content on key topics.

The changes include:

  • New content to the course on:
    • young people: statistics, insight into their experiences, and top tips/guidance for anyone delivering physical activity to this group
    • healthy relationships with sport and physical activity: insight into experiences of when participation can become unhealthy, and guidance on how to spot the signs and offer support
    • helping people to support themselves: linking to Mind's new Self-care Library, which pulls together a range of activities to help people to support their own and others' well-being.
  • Improvements to its accessibility: this course is now fully accessible with screen readers and keyboard navigation.
  • Updates to statistics and figures based on new and updated research.

Overview

One in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year. Complete this online course to gain the knowledge, skills, and confidence to better understand and support people living with mental health problems, and to learn how to create an environment that encourages participation and promotes positive change.

This eLearning course will increase your knowledge and understanding of mental health, giving you the practical skills and strategies to be able to:

  • build people’s resilience, self-esteem and confidence
  • adapt your sessions to make them more inclusive
  • enable and support mental health recovery
  • tackle stigma and discrimination.

After completing the course, you will be able to download your certificate of completion.

The course has been awarded 1.5 CPD points by the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA).

Join us (for just 69p per week) and enjoy a 20% discount on this course

In this course you will:

Enjoy a variety of learning activities, quizzes, case studies and videos that will help you:

  • better understand mental health, including the misconceptions and how to recognise the red flags
  • appreciate the impact that sport and physical activity can have on mental health
  • recognise the barriers to participating in physical activity, and learn about practical strategies to use to adapt your sessions to overcome them
  • understand and connect with people and provide an inclusive, welcoming experience for all
  • communicate effectively and offer appropriate guidance
  • be confident about opening and holding a conversation about mental health with someone you coach
  • make your club or organisation more inclusive, and better prepared to be able to support people experiencing mental health problems.

Full course details

  • This course is useful for everyone who delivers coaching in a club, leisure centre or any other community sports and physical activity setting, such as coaches, fitness instructors, personal trainers, activators, sports administrators, front of house staff and volunteers.

    The course is suitable for learners aged 16 and over. It has been co-designed and evaluated with learners over the age of 16 and includes signposting to adult services. The course discusses sensitive topics including self-harm and suicidal thoughts.

    For more information about children and young people’s mental health, visit: mind.org.uk/youngpeople.

  • This course is self-paced and lasts approximately 2-3 hours. You will be able to access it whenever you want, at a time that fits in with your lifestyle and schedule.

  • You have access to the course for a minimum of 60 days after enrolment.

    No refunds can be offered for part-completed courses.

     

  • Our experienced advisors are on hand to offer any assistance if you need any help with navigating through the course.

    Some topics can be upsetting when learning about mental health. You can pause the course to take a break whenever you need to. You may find it helpful to talk to someone you trust about how you’re feeling. You can also find information and support at mind.org.uk/information-support.

    If you need help right now, this page can help you make sense of your experiences: mind.org.uk/need-urgent-help. It gives you practical tips to help you cope and helps you find the right support services for you.

  • We have given the course a fresh new look and made some additions, including adding:

    • an optional summary voice-over
    • British Sign Language and subtitles on course videos
    • a font size of 14 throughout to help readability
    • Plain English wherever possible and introducing new concepts or technical terms
    • navigation features to help people work through the course.

    We are committed to enhancing the learning experience and to make the course more inclusive. We will be looking to make further improvements to future updates of the course. For the best experience, we recommend you complete it on a desktop computer or laptop.

    We have worked with people from a wide range of backgrounds with a variety of accessibility and learning needs to enhance the course.

    Please note: if English is not your first language or you are a native British Sign Language user, you may benefit from completing the course with the support of a communication support worker or interpreter.

  • If you are an organisation and want to purchase this course for your learners, please get in touch. 

Mental Health Awareness for Sport and Physical Activity+ (2023)

UK Coaching Premium Members can enjoy a 20% discount on this resource.

Learn more

Total price: £10.00
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What do other people think of the course?

This course made me feel seen. Helping make people feel safe in this climate and having videos and voiceover did make things a little less isolating when not able to do things face-to-face.

Stephen Ware

Being able to do the course online in the span of two hours rather than all day with someone with a flipchart full of acronyms is to be celebrated. Engaged, interested and ready to start working!

Tyron Woolfe

  • A very good course to highlight mental health issues in sport, I would highly recommend for any coach whether this be grassroots of elite. 
  • Really valuable course that introduces and reinforces the support that we can provide to help people with mental health issues in sport as we coach. Very enjoyable and a helpful insight. 
  • I have enjoyed this course and have learnt a lot. It was well presented and delivered in manageable chunks. I will be recommending this course to my work colleagues. 
  • I mainly coach children in performance skiing. This course has not only heightened my awareness of possible mental health issues but also of general well-being. It has also helped me reflect on my own state of mind and encouraged me to think about my coaching delivery as a whole and how our group activity can have a positive effect on individuals. I have also become more aware of resources available should I need to find help for either myself or for others.

This was a fantastic online course that I found both educational and interesting. The layout of the information was great, which made it easier to use and understand the course content. As a result I have asked all our coaches to complete the course, which will help increase their knowledge and confidence on this important area.

Graham Rodger, Community Manager, Grimsby Town Sports and Education Trust

‘Mental Health Awareness for Sport and Physical Activity+' was very engaging and educational allowing me to reflect on scenarios that I have been in. The language was good as well. Sometimes mental well-being resources tend to have negative language, this one veered to more positivity.

Nyall Simms​

I felt very engaged with the learning and it helped refresh my understanding and improve my personal confidence.

Sarah Eyley​

  • Very useful and interesting. Gave me confidence to deal with the issue of mental health in my coaching. 
  • This course really opened my eyes to things that could be happening in my sessions that I now feel confident dealing with.
  • A great course about Mental Health, very interesting and informative giving a deeper understand of the main relevant aspects surrounding Mental Health issues.
  • This course offered a rich insight into an area that is not spoken about enough. As someone who has experienced similar situations to those spoke about I felt the course provided a refreshing take on the benefits of physical activity and how those involved in coaching or instructing can best advised their participants. 
  • Very interesting and informative with thoughtful questioning, case studies and resources.  

I really enjoyed the reflective part of the course. It got me thinking about how I would approach such a situation and what I could do in my planning to be able to confidently support people. As a result I am definitely more aware of people’s behaviour and what signs to potentially look for.  I highly recommend it to all coaches.

Alice Bower, Youth Development Officer, British Dodgeball