Announcements

SPORTS coaches in the area can tap into free mental health expertise.

The Mental Health for Sport and Physical Activity online course, which is being made available for free by UK Coaching and its collaborating partners, is considered ‘essential training’.

This opportunity comes to light in Mental Health Awareness Week, which is hosted by the Mental Health Foundation, and amid the difficult times brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

The knowledge gained from completing the course is said to benefit coaches in a number of important areas, so that learners will be able to:

• Welcome and support people living with mental health problems in their sport and physical activity sessions

• Increase their knowledge of mental health problems

• Apply the learning in their coaching practice

• Make their club or organisation more inclusive

Usually £18, the course is accessible to over three million coaches across the UK via ukcoaching.org and will remain free of charge until the August 31, 2020.

UK Coaching’s director of coaching Emma Atkins said: “Maintaining good mental health and well-being during the coronavirus lockdown was always going to be one of the key challenges facing us.

“Especially, with social-distancing measures limiting our face-to-face interactions with friends and family members outside of our homes.

“This year’s theme for Mental Health Awareness Week is kindness, and we wanted to honour that by coming together with our partners Mind and Sport England to take the financial burden of an essential piece of coach learning and development away from coaches.

“During this time, we are seeing more coaches using online learning, and this course is one that we know coaches enjoy and benefit from putting what they have learnt into practice. This is vital as we return to play over the coming months.

“There will be many of us who will have found this extended period of isolation difficult, and many of us who will find the ‘new normal’ that awaits us after lockdown equally challenging.

“Coaches are key conduits in helping communities to thrive and prosper. We will need them now more than ever before to help us get back running, mentally, as well as physically.”

Mind’s head of physical activity Hayley Jarvis, said: “We’re really proud to be announcing this news during such a significant awareness week and at a time when more people than ever are in need of support for their mental health.

“We know that physical activity can play a vital role in improving and maintaining mental health, but that many people with mental health problems face additional barriers to getting active, whether inside or outdoors.

“Coaches and coaching organisations are in a fantastic position to make a real difference to the lives of people with mental health problems, so we are delighted that this online course is now freely available for the whole coaching community.”

Sport England’s coaching development manager Sion Kitson, said: “Considering the challenges, we are all facing, it was right for us to come together to support coaches by removing the financial obstacle of accessing this essential course.

“People enjoying high quality physical activity is central to the mental and physical well-being of the nation. Despite the lockdown, coaches have worked doubly hard to find amazing ways to keep people active. Hopefully, this small gesture will go a long way towards continuing their professional development.”

Everyone who usually delivers coaching in a club, leisure centre or any other community sports and physical activity setting – such as coaches, activators, sports administrators, front of house staff, volunteers and fitness instructors and personal trainers – will benefit from Mental Health for Sport and Physical Activity.

The course is recognised to provide 3 CPD (continuing professional development) points as awarded by the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA).