In order to reduce the negativity towards mental health, promoting it, fostering recovery and well-being, providing access to services, reducing the risk factors, and improving knowledge and collaboration at all levels, is needed. To help do all of this, I looked into programs currently happening in Canada, though not in sports settings, that could be transferred and implemented into sport.
The first program I found is with Mental Health First Aid Canada. This program strives to provide people with the knowledge of how to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental health issues, provide first hand help, and then guide the individual toward more personal and professional help. This program would be extremely helpful within the sporting community as it would give the athletes, parents, and coaches the proper knowledge of what is going on and how to deal with it. If Mental Health First Aid Canada set up meetings with competitive, recreational, high school, university etc. teams, and taught this knowledge once a season, it would drastically reduce the stigma around mental health, as well as the occurrence of mental health issues in athletes. The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) has a school-based “Mental Health and Addictions Services Project” that, like Mental Health First Aid Canada, provides a variety of policy and practice options for practitioners, policy makers in education, health, child welfare and related organizations (such as sport). These work from promotion through to treatment available, helping the athletes, parents, and coaches to be able to walk through the appropriate steps in a mentally/emotionally safe and healthy.
Another great program, occurring in Quebec right now, is the Partners for Life program that works on depression awareness in youth. This program provides sessions to help students recognize the signs correlated with depression, substance abuse, and suicidal behaviour. Integrating this recognition program into the sporting community would, like Quebec, lead to a serious decline of youth suicide rates. This program could be done a few times a season, where athletes could have an open space to talk and listen to what their teammates are feeling – not only allowing them a safe space, but allowing for team bonding.
Going back to the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC), they also have an Open Minds program that works on anti-stigma and anti-discrimination in regards to mental health. This program involves individuals with lived experiences of mental illness sharing their personal stories, the stigma they encountered, and the recovery experience they had. This would help to open up discussion and eliminate barriers regarding this topic within sport. If coaches coordinated with MHCC to bring in individuals with this experience, focusing on individuals who are also athletes, it would help the team be able to connect more to the guest speakers while also feeling like they have people they can talk to, and people who will listen.
There is also workshop currently going on in Newfoundland and Labrador that is focused on building a strong self-help network for individuals living with mental health issues. This group, Consumers’ Health Awareness Network Newfoundland and Labrador (CHANNAL), offers a range of support programs and resources, like the Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP), to help people take a proactive approach toward their recovery. They make up individualized plans that use tools that focus specifically on maintaining wellness, identifying triggers and warning signs, and plan for crisis situations.
Having programs introduced into sport that first provide knowledge about the stigma around mental health, the mental health issues themselves, ways to recognize these occurrences, where and who to go to for help, as well as opening the door for safe conversation would allow for athletes to feel eased in knowing that they have options! Once recognized, getting help can make a difference for 80% of people who are affected! These programs would help to lower the occurrence of suicide by giving the athletes people to talk to, ways to get help, and the knowledge that mental health is important and getting help isn’t a bad thing.
I’ve attached the links to all the pages below:
http://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.ca/EN/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/
http://www.fondationdesmaladiesmentales.org/awarness-programs.html?i=1
The journal all this wonderful information was from is…
Kirby, M., Goldbloom, D., & Bradley, L. (2012). Changing Directions Changing Lives: The Mental health Strategy for Canada. Mental Health Commission of Canada. doi:10.1037/e504192013-001
Mental Health IN SPORT 