Your Resilience: improving mental health at Newcastle Eagles

A survey conducted by Basketball England found that approximately 27% of basketball players in the UK come from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Lack of funding leaves little available to invest in mental health programmes.

 

As part of their new off-court commitment to players’ personal development, Newcastle Eagles Academy asked us to deliver Your Resilience to their entire academy.

"A vital part of our player development framework is nurturing and supporting the social, emotional, and psychological aspects. Players, and indeed coaches, sometimes concentrate on the technical and tactical growth of the player and forget the growth of the person behind the player. I am very proud that we can offer this support to our players."

– Ian Macleod, Eagles Development Manager

15 coaches from across the Newcastle Eagles Foundation attended Your Resilience training and then 45 workshops were co-delivered to 75 young people in total. From the very first session we were delighted to see high levels of engagement, with one player sharing that she was enjoying having space ‘for a lot of heartfelt conversations – it was fun and helpful to talk together.’

The programme provided opportunities for players to connect with one another individually, exploring wellbeing and resilience holistically. Players often face additional pressures beyond their sport; coaches highlighted family situations and demands from school as ongoing stressors that were explored and supported throughout the workshops.

One of our Your Resilience training associates, observed that players participated enthusiastically in group discussions:

"Listening to the experiences, opinions and ideas of others was beneficial – by acknowledging similar life challenges, they [players] formed a different bond of compassion."

– Louisa Taylor, Your Resilience Training Associate

To learn more about the work our Your Resilience team do across the UK, download our full impact report here.

Your donation will make the difference

Just £10 could help pay for a call to our advice and information line, supporting someone living with mental illness who may be feeling in distress during this time.

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