Report by Max Hope.
On Wednesday 14th October, RUPA, together with South Pacific Private Hospital, hosted eight sporting organisations for an up-to-date workshop on mental health in sport.
Representatives’ from national sporting bodies, including rugby league, cricket, swimming and AFL attended the workshop to address and discuss key issues concerning mental health, including depression, anxiety and addictions to gambling and alcohol.
The workshop discussions included a highly detailed analysis of how mental health is perceived and portrayed in sport, with a particular focus on how players, staff and partners can better understand the warning signs and ways to address associated matters.
“This is the first time we’ve ever held this workshop for Player Development Manager’s from other sports,” RUPA’s Head of Player Development, Rosemary Towner said.
“Prior to the workshop, we sent out a survey to attendees to get a feel for what issues they felt needed to be addressed. We combined these surveys with results from previous mental health workshops we’ve held with other participants, tailoring the sessions around this as well as other current topics.
“One of the key outcomes of the day was providing Player Development Managers with the resources and tools to best assist them in their role.
“By educating these key people, we believe it will help to ‘normalise’ discussion and encourage players and athletes to seek help,” Towner said.
The day was broken into four sessions and had various sport specific examples to highlight key focus areas. The first session focused discussion around the professional sporting environment and the key challenges that can arise for both players and staff in a professional team.
Session two provided clinical information on addiction and the range of disorders that this encompasses. This session also included discussion on the support and set-up required for a player, who may have received treatment, to make their return to their sport.
Following lunch, the third session discussed the benefits of early intervention and recognising the signs that a person may be struggling.
The final session focussed on the family support and the impact of a player who may have suffered mental health issues on the wider playing group.
With mental health in sport as publicised as it has ever been, a large focus was put on adapting to current matters.
Feedback collected from the workshop demonstrated that awareness and education strategies were key items that attendees said they would prioritise at their respective organisations.
