Mental Health Charter for Sport and Recreation

We know that being physically active can help mental wellbeing. That's why the Sport and Recreation Alliance, the Professional Players Federation and Mind created the Mental Health Charter for Sport and Recreation.

Since the Charter launched in March 2015, over 470 organisations signed up and committed to its vision: to embed mental health within sport and recreation to create a culture shift that removes the stigma around mental health.

To celebrate the Charter’s seventh anniversary in 2022, we launched the report Seven years of changing culture. The report reviews the impact of the Charter over the last seven years, and highlights the expanding mental health support available to sport and recreation organisations.

Find out more and get the latest updates on the #SportMinds LinkedIn page

Training and Resources

The Charter has been instrumental in advancing mental health in the sport and recreation sector. On the back of the Charter, there is abundance of mental health support and resources to help organisations. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Mind’s Sector Support programme – which includes training, resources, events, webinars, networking opportunities, partnerships, campaigns and bespoke consultancy support on a range of topics from developing mental health strategies and policies to establishing physical activity programmes to support mental health outcomes. To access this support, visit mind.org.uk/sport or contact Mind’s Physical Activity team via sport@mind.org.uk.
• English Institute for Sport’s mental health team and expert panel – provides advice and guidance on all matters relating to mental health and sports within the UK Sport-funded high-performance system, particularly supporting complex cases and development of strategies, processes, or policies. To access this support, email mentalhealth@eis2win.co.uk.
• Professional Players Federation’s (PPF) mental health support – the PPF have collated mental health support available to professional sports people provided by Player Associations on their mental health webpage. The PPF also convene regular mental health working groups to develop new initiatives and share good practice amongst Player Associations.
• Workplace wellbeing support for staff mental health – there are a range of resources available including Mind’s Workplace wellbeing training, resources and consultancy, Thriving at Work a guide for the sport sector and the Mental Health at Work sport toolkit.

Case Studies

We want to share what positive action our signatories are taking around mental health so we asked them to let us post some case studies:

Active Oxfordshire

Grantham Tennis Club

League Football Education

League Managers Association

Professional Cricketers' Association

Rugby Players Association

Tyne Metropolitan College - Safe, Fit & Well

England Athletics - RunAndTalk

ukactive and The Mix - Charity of the Year

Middlesbrough and Stockton Mind & British Canoeing - Get Set To Go Canoeing

England Golf – Golf: game for all

English Karate Council – Bob’s story

Everton in the Community

Karate Union Great Britain – World Mental Health Day

Kent County Council

Table Tennis England – What we’ve done so far

Time to Talk Wales – We wear the same shirt

Rounders England - How does rounders help mental wellbeing

StreetGames - Safe, Fit & Well

Small Heath Boxing Club: Mind Fit Campaign

Karate Union of Great Britain: Chelmsford Karate Club

Start Again Project: Healthy Lifestyles programme

Accessible Tennis Community Interest Company: Tennis Recovery Group

In addition, Charter signatories showcased some of the great work that has taken place under the Charter banner. You can read their case studies here.

World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association: Your Cue to Talk

Rugby Players Association: Lift the Weight

Professional Cricketers Association: Mind Matters

Parkour: Freerunning for Mental Health

British Canoeing: Get Set to Go

Amateur Swimming Association: Dementia Friendly Swimming

Active Devon: Wild Things