4 million 7–24-year-olds in England have a probable or possible mental health disorder

On Thursday 7 December, Access Sport’s Inclusive Club Network came together for a webinar, hosted by YoungMinds, focusing on empowering ‘trusted adults’ to support young people in the community. 

This fantastic event brought clubs, coaches, and volunteers together to learn more about the importance of being someone young people can turn to and how to make conversations about mental health part of everyday life in community sport. 

The webinar was delivered by children’s mental health charity YoungMinds who want to see a world where no young person feels alone with their mental health and gets the support they need, when they need it, no matter what.

What’s the problem?
Young people’s mental health and wellbeing has never been so important. These statistics show just how big the problem is for young people in the UK:

• 4 million 7–24-year-olds in England have a probable or possible mental health disorder¹
• 52 per cent of young people said they had experienced negative emotions which affect their day-to-day life¹
• 43 per cent of all 11-25-year-olds said they struggled to cope emotionally².

We know that having trusted relationships with adults beyond school and family plays a crucial role in the mental health of young people. However, adults can feel under-equipped to address the mental health needs of the young people they work with.

Key learnings
During the webinar, we learnt about some of the research that has informed YoungMinds' training to support adults to be those trusted figures in a young person’s life.

A 'trusted adult' is considered by YoungMinds to be an individual chosen by a young person who listens without judgment, or agenda, and encourages positivity.

The webinar also featured a focus on the fact that young people from ethically diverse communities are more likely to face systemic barriers and discrimination when trying to access help. The adults in their lives may not always be equipped to deal with the impacts of racism and cultural differences between communities.

We finished the session by discussing some of the ways that adults can best respond to young people struggling with their mental health, and the importance of being a good cheerleader for mental health yourself.

Training and Supporting Trusted Adults
We are working in partnership with YoungMinds to develop and deliver a programme of training, support and resources that equip community sports coaches and volunteers to make conversations about emotions more commonplace. Please click on the below link to find out more about YoungMinds' upcoming training sessions

YoungMinds' training sessions

YoungMinds are also offering some free training for organisations based in Southeast England (excluding London). To find out more please email [email protected]

Resources
There’s lots of information already out there but we’ve created a list of different resources that can help support you in talking about emotions with young people and gain the skills and confidence to be a trusted adult:

YoungMinds Resource pack

Sign up for YoungMinds Newsletter

Get in Touch
Please get in touch with us to tell us what you’re already doing to support good mental wellbeing at your club and what training or support you’d like us to prioritise through the partnership with Young Minds on [email protected]

References:

1 NHS Mental Health Services Monthly Statistics – National Estimates (2022 – 2023)

2 YoungMinds x Beano Brain research (2022)