Mental Health Awareness for Sport and Physical Activity+
3 hours
CIMSPA CPD valid for 12 months
Translate
Free training for clubs in Wales
Every club in Wales will be able to access one of around 1,000 mental health awareness training places as part of a drive to better support clubs to support their teams, coaches and players and their wider community.
The eLearning course from Mind Cymru and UK Coaching will be delivered initially to clubs with the support of the FAW and WRU.
wgmha_intro
Whilst the initial focus will be on providing this awareness training to assist in more immediate action, Sport Wales is developing a longer-term preventative approach addressing stigma, risk factors and creating environments which support positive mental health and wellbeing for the whole sport sector.
A launch event was held at Barry Town United FC on Thursday 15 May with former international footballer and FAW ambassador Neville Southall, Sports Minister Jack Sargeant, and hosted by Barry Town’s Club Secretary David Cole.
For Jack Sargeant, it is a deeply personal cause and very close to his heart. Jack became a politician after stepping up to fill his dad Carl’s shoes as the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Alyn and Deeside following his suicide in 2017. Then in 2022 his best friend of 20 years and fellow football fanatic, Jamie Wynne, took his own life too.
It means so much to me to be able to kick this training programme forward and establish something that will really help people, especially now during Mental Health week.
This is not an easy subject for me to talk about, but I know helping people share is important and it’s the best way I can remember my friend, Jamie, who was so passionate about the good grassroots football could do.
I want to do anything and everything I can to ensure we can best help those who need support, no matter the setting. Using sports and especially football in this way is such an on-the-ground way to reach people who may not traditionally open-up otherwise. If it leads to one meaningful conversation, it’ll be worth it.
Jack Sargeant, Sports Minister
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.
What's new?
This course 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 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.
On 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.
After completing the course, you will be able to download your certificate of completion.
The course has been awarded 3 CPD points by the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA).
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.
What do other coaches 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
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.
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
I felt very engaged with the learning and it helped refresh my understanding and improve my personal confidence.
Sarah Eyley​
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.Â
A very good course to highlight mental health issues in sport, I would highly recommend for any coach whether this be grassroots or elite.Â
Very useful and interesting. Gave me confidence to deal with the issue of mental health in my coaching.Â
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.
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 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.Â
Very interesting and informative with thoughtful questioning, case studies and resources.Â