World Mental Health Day: Embedding mental health into the fabric of youth sports programmes
Sport is a powerful tool to support young people’s mental health. But simply joining a sports team or handing a young person a football does not automatically result in positive mental health outcomes.
To mark World Mental Health Day (10 October), Laureus Sport for Good is shining a spotlight on its global partnership with Movember, which integrates mental health into sports programmes.
To mark World Mental Health Day (10 October), Laureus Sport for Good is shining a spotlight on its global partnership with Movember, which integrates mental health into sports programmes.
Recognising mental health challenges
Week after week, young people are consistently attending sport programmes in their communities. Their coaches are some of the adult leaders they see on a regular basis and some of the first to identify mental health challenges in a young person, but sometimes don’t feel well equipped to respond. In a time when 75 per cent of mental health disorders emerge before the age of 25, coaches are in a crucial position to support their young participant’s mental health.
That’s where Movember Ahead of the Game comes in. Delivered in partnership with Laureus Sport for Good City Paris, Ahead of the Game is a series of workshops for coaches and programme leaders – the facilitators – to develop psychosocial skills and mental health literacy, helping them to deliver workshops and build supportive environments for their young participants aged 12-18, their peers and parents.
Academie Football Paris 18 (AFP 18) is one of six organisations taking part in Movember Ahead of the Game. Before participating in the workshops, AFP 18 coach Ismaël Luguera had already noticed mental health challenges in his community.
“What stands out most in the community here is that some young people struggle to express what they're feeling, to manage pressure and stress, or the judgement of others,” Ismaël said. “As a coach, part of the challenge is also knowing how to listen to them and create an environment where they feel safe to open up.”
Ismaël helps run weekly football programmes serving the 18th arrondissement, or district, in Paris. He also leads AFP 18’s socio-educational workshops and discussion forums addressing themes such as well-being, self-confidence, gender equality, violence prevention and career guidance.
“Before the Ahead of the Games workshops, I didn't fully realise just how much mental health could affect young people's daily lives and behaviour,” Ismaël said. “These workshops have really helped us better understand certain warning signs, and above all, how to bring up the subject with them in a simple, non-judgemental way.”
That’s where Movember Ahead of the Game comes in. Delivered in partnership with Laureus Sport for Good City Paris, Ahead of the Game is a series of workshops for coaches and programme leaders – the facilitators – to develop psychosocial skills and mental health literacy, helping them to deliver workshops and build supportive environments for their young participants aged 12-18, their peers and parents.
Academie Football Paris 18 (AFP 18) is one of six organisations taking part in Movember Ahead of the Game. Before participating in the workshops, AFP 18 coach Ismaël Luguera had already noticed mental health challenges in his community.
“What stands out most in the community here is that some young people struggle to express what they're feeling, to manage pressure and stress, or the judgement of others,” Ismaël said. “As a coach, part of the challenge is also knowing how to listen to them and create an environment where they feel safe to open up.”
Ismaël helps run weekly football programmes serving the 18th arrondissement, or district, in Paris. He also leads AFP 18’s socio-educational workshops and discussion forums addressing themes such as well-being, self-confidence, gender equality, violence prevention and career guidance.
“Before the Ahead of the Games workshops, I didn't fully realise just how much mental health could affect young people's daily lives and behaviour,” Ismaël said. “These workshops have really helped us better understand certain warning signs, and above all, how to bring up the subject with them in a simple, non-judgemental way.”
Providing a framework for conversations
The approach is different in the USA, where Movember is integrating its “Game Changers” programme into community sport settings, intentionally delivering mental health programming through trained coaches. By further strengthening 14 organisations across Laureus Sport for Good Cities Atlanta, Chicago and New York City, the Game Changers curriculum is equipping boys and young men aged 10 to 24 with the mental health knowledge, emotional skills and sense of identity needed to strengthen their well-being, resilience, confidence and connection.
In her community in New York City, Ariel Deitch said the biggest mental health challenge is “unaddressed stress, anxiety and depression.”
“I say unaddressed because in the community I work in and the backgrounds our young people come from, often these mental health challenges are not acknowledged or understood, and therefore get ignored or not seen as issues to the young person's thriving,” said Ariel, a coach at New York City’s South Bronx United, the 2020 Laureus Sport for Good Award recipient.
“Our young people are often balancing the expectations of their families, communities, schools, and everyone else while often not given the space to understand themselves and their personal ideas of what is best for them. With all of this, young people in the community struggle to seek or ask for help.”
In her community in New York City, Ariel Deitch said the biggest mental health challenge is “unaddressed stress, anxiety and depression.”
“I say unaddressed because in the community I work in and the backgrounds our young people come from, often these mental health challenges are not acknowledged or understood, and therefore get ignored or not seen as issues to the young person's thriving,” said Ariel, a coach at New York City’s South Bronx United, the 2020 Laureus Sport for Good Award recipient.
“Our young people are often balancing the expectations of their families, communities, schools, and everyone else while often not given the space to understand themselves and their personal ideas of what is best for them. With all of this, young people in the community struggle to seek or ask for help.”
.JPG?format=auto&width=320)
In Chicago, Adam Lemke-Bell from Beat the Streets echoes those sentiments: “The challenges we have observed are that youth often feel like they have to ignore or push through problems that are not physical in nature, and that even if they want to address them, they do not always know how or feel like there are people that can or will help them.”
For Ariel and Adam, supporting their participant’s mental health is top of mind, and Movember’s programme is helping strengthen their existing work.
“It is hard to get a sense of how our youth contextualise mental health,” said Adam, whose organisation uses wrestling and mentoring to help young people build grit, resilience and mental strength to navigate adversity. “The Game Changers programme has been vital in giving us a framework to have these conversations so that we can do a better job of meeting young people where they are at, give them the tools they need and let them know that they have resources available to them.”
By giving young people the skills to support their mental health and identity development, the Game Changers curriculum is helping organisations use sport spaces to deepen their understanding of mental health, explore healthy identity and build emotional regulation skills.
“Soccer (football) isn't automatically good for mental health. The environment matters,” Ariel explained. “A highly competitive, punitive, or overly performance-focused programme can increase stress, anxiety and decrease confidence. A supportive programme that emphasises relationships, enjoyment, growth, inclusion, and emotional well-being is much more likely to have positive effects.”
For Ariel and Adam, supporting their participant’s mental health is top of mind, and Movember’s programme is helping strengthen their existing work.
“It is hard to get a sense of how our youth contextualise mental health,” said Adam, whose organisation uses wrestling and mentoring to help young people build grit, resilience and mental strength to navigate adversity. “The Game Changers programme has been vital in giving us a framework to have these conversations so that we can do a better job of meeting young people where they are at, give them the tools they need and let them know that they have resources available to them.”
By giving young people the skills to support their mental health and identity development, the Game Changers curriculum is helping organisations use sport spaces to deepen their understanding of mental health, explore healthy identity and build emotional regulation skills.
“Soccer (football) isn't automatically good for mental health. The environment matters,” Ariel explained. “A highly competitive, punitive, or overly performance-focused programme can increase stress, anxiety and decrease confidence. A supportive programme that emphasises relationships, enjoyment, growth, inclusion, and emotional well-being is much more likely to have positive effects.”
