Mind: Using the power of sport to tackle mental health

Leading UK mental health charity Mind has been a huge support of the Sport Industry Mental Wellbeing platform, providing crucial expertise.

Now, the charity is looking to help more sport organisations in this space. We caught up with Hayley Jarvis, Head of Physical Activity at Mind, to find out more…

How did Mind’s Physical Activity team come to be?

In 2014 following our report into mental health in elite sport and work in ecotherapy or ‘green exercise’, Mind was awarded funding from Sport England and the National Lottery to set up the Get Set to Go programme. We worked with 8 local Minds to use physical activity to support people with mental health problems to get active in their local community, growing to reach over 10,000 people by 2021.

I joined in early 2015 to lead this work. This coincided with the launch of the Mental Health Charter for Sport and Recreation in partnership with the Sport and Recreation Alliance and the Professional Players Federation, which sets out how organisations can adopt good mental health practices to make activities, inclusive, positive and open to everyone. We now have over 470 organisations signed up. Over the years our work has evolved from supporting our federation of 100 independent local Minds to use physical activity to our sector support and influencing work.

We’ve led campaigns such as the EFL and Mind #OnYourSide partnership, Heads Up with the FA and the Royal Foundation and The Mind Series. We’ve commissioned research including Mental Health in Elite Sport and Physical Activity through a strategic audience lens and developed a wide range of resources. We’ve supported organisations from UK Sport and Sport England, DCMS through to England Athletics to embed mental health across their organisations.

What is your mission?

We are Mind. We’re a passionate group of people here to fight for mental health. For support. For respect. For you.

 In the physical activity team, we use the power of sport, physical activity and movement to raise awareness, tackle mental health stigmas, and support those of us with mental health problems to become more active.

We have big ambitions!

1. We want to embed mental health across the sport and physical sector, so the workforce feel more knowledgeable and confident to support mental health and so they are supported to thrive.
2. We want to position physical activity and movement as a tool to help the nation stay well, and live well with a mental health problem positioning it alongside other traditional treatments such as medication and talking therapy as part of person-centred or holistic care.

Why is mental health so important in this space?

We all have mental health. 1 in 4 adults and 1 in 5 children and young people experience a mental health problem each year.

Research from ASICS Global State of Mind study found that 15:09 minutes movement is enough to lift our mood. It helps us to sleep better, essential to good mental health and importantly it can help us build social connections, people who value and care for us, a protective factor for our mental health.

The relationship between physical activity and mental health can be complicated. For some people, it can become their only coping strategy leading to excessive exercise and exercise addiction. When you are exercising injured, or to punish yourself or compensate for calories it is no longer healthy for us. Equally at the top end of the sporting pyramid we know that  the high-pressured environment, risk of injury,  and being in the public eye, can negatively impact our mental health.

What types of organisations do you work with?

As a Sport England ‘system partner’, and with thanks to the National Lottery, we are funded to work with a wide range of organisations across the sector. This includes  small community-based organisations, leisure providers, active partnerships and national governing bodies and umbrella organisations. We won’t stop until people with mental health problems get the support and respect.

What support services do you offer sporting organisations?

We offer a  library of mental health resources for sports professionals including toolkits, guides and eLearning.

Additionally, with Sport England funding we provide a limited number of consultancy hours to support organisation to embed mental health through our “Jigsaw” approach. We are currently working with adults and young people with experience of mental health problems along with the health and sport and physical activity sectors, to create safe and effective practice guidance. Launching in 2025 this will help to make sure both participants and the workforce’s mental health is supported.

Resources available at: mind.org.uk/sport

What organisational project that you have been involved in best demonstrates the change that can be made?

There have been so many examples over the last decade, but our charity partnership with the English Football League (EFL) 2018-2022 demonstrates the power of sport and the breath of what can be achieved across a league and member clubs. This included:

• Reaching over 18 million fans with the Mind logo on the back of the shirts for 4 football seasons. This led to a range of conversations from people like Cameron who went on to receive support from his local Mind
• During the partnership we trained over 2,400 club and their community organisation staff in mental health training specific to their context, supporting them to feel more knowledgeable and confident to talk about and support people with mental health problems.
• Staff champions schemes were set up at clubs such as Burton Albion FC and Millwall FC – people promoting positive mental health and providing a listening ear and signposting to colleagues.
• Supporter initiatives such as the Fans Supporting Fans Match Day Hub at the Stadium of Light staffed by Washington Mind, therapists and practitioners.
• Co-delivering programmes such as Get Set to Go and mental health football programmes.

We believe the programme was game changing for football and mental health and we continue to support the EFL and partners on initiatives for supporters, staff and local communities.

Are there any campaigns around sport and mental health that you have admired?

It has been brilliant to see the sports sector embrace mental health and champion it across the pyramid, with so many great examples. 2 that particularly stick out are:

• Rugby League World Cup Mental Fitness Charter (2021) our friends at Movember and Rugby League Care elevated the drive to be mentally healthy to a global stage by providing mental fitness training to all the teams, coaches and communities involved in the tournament.
• Norwich City and the Samaritans World Mental Health Day Film – their film demonstrated the stigma around mental health and how as humans we all make assumptions about mental health, that aren’t always right. It clearly demonstrated the need to check in with our friends and family.  

An essential component of a successful mental health initiative is ensuring that it is codesigned with people with mental health problems and the audiences it is intended to reach. And that, it is developed in partnership with mental health experts whether they are from the NHS or the community and voluntary sector.

What should an interested organisation do as their first step?

Take an initial look at our website mind.org.uk/sport for inspiration and then reach out to the team at sport@mind.org.uk . We understand it can feel overwhelming to know where to start. We can help to signpost you to the relevant resources, tools and support and signpost you to organisations similar to your own.