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Deputy Prime Minister launches mental health in sport initiative

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Sports bodies are signing up to the Mental Health Charter for Sport and Recreation to help remove stigma and prejudice around mental health.

A network of major sporting bodies will stand side by side with the Deputy Prime Minister today to commit to blowing the whistle on mental health discrimination in sport.

For the first time ever, a host of sport organisations – from the Rugby Football Union to the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Football Association – will sign a charter committing to removing the stigma and prejudice around mental health from the pitch to the playground.

The Mental Health Charter for Sport and Recreation comes from a shared desire among national governing bodies of sport and players associations to raise awareness of, and tackle issues around, mental health.

Nick Clegg has hailed this as a “momentous day” for the nation’s mental health, where the power of sport will be harnessed to bring mental health out of the shadows and help put an end to people suffering in silence.

Follow #SportMinds on Twitter to find out more or to add your support.

With exercise proven to be as effective as antidepressants for those with mild clinical depression, the charter will also encourage more people to take up sport to help with their mental and physical health.

The move follows a report from leading mental health charity MIND, in October last year, which called for a national network to tackle mental health in sport following an increasing number of testimonies from high profile sports people about their own mental health struggles.

Read MIND’s report, Mental Health in Elite Sport (pdf).

The announcement comes just days before the launch of the first ever access and waiting time standards which the Deputy Prime Minister announced last year to bring treatment for mental health problems on a par with physical health.

For the first time, from 5 April, most patients needing talking therapies – for conditions like depression – will be guaranteed the treatment they need in as little as 6 weeks, with a maximum wait of 18 weeks.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said:

“Whether it’s Wimbledon or the World Cup, the Olympics or the Open, we are a nation truly inspired by our sportsmen and women.

“But with 1 in 4 of us affected by mental illness in any year, we know that professional sportspeople are not immune. Out of the spotlight and away from the glare of the media, some have been fighting their own personal battles against mental illness.

“That’s why today is such a momentous day for the nation’s mental health. For the very first time we’re standing together to help kick mental health discrimination out of sport, not just on the pitches but across the playgrounds, so that we can build a fairer society in which no one has to suffer in silence.”

The Sport and Recreation Alliance and Professional Players Federation have brought together around 20 organisations, including leading mental health charity Mind.

The PFA (Professional Footballers’ Association)RFL (Rugby Football League)LTA (Lawn Tennis Association)UKA (United Kingdom Athletics)PCA (Professional Cricketers’ Association) and the Professional Jockeys’ Association are just some of the sporting bodies signing up to the charter.

Together they will commit to promoting wellbeing, adopting good mental health policies and tackling discrimination on the grounds of mental health.

Emma Boggis, Chief Executive of the Sport and Recreation Alliance said:

“Evidence from our research report Game of Life outlined how exercise can be as effective as antidepressants for those with mild clinical depression.

“This is one of those areas where sport and physical activity really can change lives, but there’s not enough awareness of it as a treatment or as a way of preventing people from falling into poor mental health in the first place.

“Too much of the association between sport and mental health is negative – like when a top athlete suffers problems. We want to re-frame that relationship so that people understand that sport is a positive place for conversations about mental health.”

Brendon Batson OBE, Executive Chairman of the Professional Players Federation said:

“By de-stigmatising mental health in sport and by promoting physical activity as a way of treating poor mental health, organisations signing up to the Charter will be making a difference to people across the UK.”

Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of mental health charity Mind said:

“From the elite level down to grass roots – sport can be used to reduce stigma and encourage positive conversation about mental health, which is why we’re delighted to back the Sport and Recreational Alliance sport and mental health charter.

“Sport brings people together. The benefits of physical activity for mental health and wellbeing are well known, and sport has been used to support people with mental health problems for some time.

“We are looking forward to working closely with the SRA, Sport England and sporting bodies to incorporate mental health into their strategies to make sport more accessible to people with mental health problems and use it as a force for social change.”

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