SWRR Mental Health Support
Liana Kate Alek Melly Maggie Lee Lynda
Mental Health Champions within SWRR
As at December 2021, we are pleased to announce that we have new Mental Health Champions available within the club. This role is explained in an excerpt from a statement from England Athletics below:-
“As we know Running is one of the most accessible and low cost ways to be active and meet government recommendations to be moderately active for at least 150 minutes per week. Whether it’s to get fit, improve health, make friends or take on a challenge running has something to offer everyone.
England Athletics is a signatory of the Mental Health Charter for Sport and Recreation. The Charter sets out how sport can use its collective power to tackle the stigma that surrounds mental health and help people seek support when needed. See Links at the foot of the page.
Please feel free to come and have a chat if you have any concerns – likewise if you have any feedback or ideas we would love to hear them.
Running, and sport in general, has so many positive effects on the mind. Yet for potential new members, having the confidence to take that first step out the door towards a club can be terrifying, and for someone with a Mental Health problem, it might seem impossible. For this reason we want to use our role(s) to give people, who are experiencing these struggles, the confidence they need just to put that first foot in front of the other. As well as bringing new people to the club, the scheme aims to support existing members who might be experiencing their own Mental Health issues. We hope that by having our MH Champions in place it will encourage people to open up and talk about this often stigmatised subject. Perhaps we can offer moral support to keep members engaged with club activities if they are experiencing tricky times.
These are some of the areas we wish to focus upon:
- Getting people talking about mental health, sharing their experiences and removing stigma.
- Raising awareness of mental health problems.
- Supporting people experiencing mental health problems to not just start running but also maintaining the habit.
- Supporting leaders, coaches and other volunteers with relevant guidance about mental health.
- Volunteering through MIND and other organisations to support people experiencing mental health problems to start running.
- Signposting members, if needed, to organisations/resources that offer support with mental wellbeing.
Following on from this, England Athletics and MIND (a UK mental health Charity) have developed a Mental Health Ambassador programme See Link at end. The programme aims to establish a network of volunteer ambassadors in affiliated running clubs and groups across England to support those of us who are experiencing mental health problems. Support includes helping people to start running, get back into running, or continue running as well as to improve the mental wellbeing of their existing members. England Athletics (EA) is committed to improving mental wellbeing through running.
EA’s aim is to one day have a mental health ambassador in every affiliated club and group in England so that those of us experiencing mental health problems can access the benefits of running in a supported way.”
LINKS
https://www.sportandrecreation.org.uk/policy/the-mental-health-charter
https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/guides-to-support-and-services/crisis-services/helplines-listening-services/#.XJDJbCj7Q2x This link can be found within ‘mental health champions’ link above.
https://www.englandathletics.org/athletics-and-running/our-programmes/runandtalk/
https://www.talkworks.dpt.nhs.uk/
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/howtomentalhealth