Moving for our Mental Health
How Coach Core is supporting staff with their Mental Health and Wellbeing
To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, we hear from Amy Fazackerley our National Partnerships Manager on how Coach Core is striving to support staff and encourage them to prioritise their mental health.
It is now widely recognised that looking after your mental health is just as important as prioritising your physical health. At Coach Core Foundation, we are committed to developing an open, supportive environment that encourages staff, and our wider network, to look after their wellbeing. We are also passionate about the role that movement and physical activity can play. From ultimate frisbee, squash and rowing, to marathon running, open water swimming and MMA, our staff are committed to #movementformentalhealth and demonstrate this regularly.
Click the dropdown menus to learn more about how we are working to better support our staff and wider network with their mental health:
We embed mental health and wellbeing into working practices, for example through our staff surveys and via anonymous feedback. This allows us to understand how confident our staff feel about discussing mental health, how supported they feel and what else we can do to better support them.
Our working environment is a welcome one, in which our staff can share any concerns they have, or any support they require each week, in order to manage their workload and prevent burnout.
We also embed mental health awareness across our apprenticeship programme, ensuring our learners know how to manage their mental health, can access additional learning and know where to access additional support.
At Coach Core Foundation, we understand the challenges that life can bring in both our personal and professional lives. We strive to foster a flexible working environment that allows staff to better manage their responsibilities and therefore, support their own wellbeing.
We also work with our Training Provider and employers, to explore flexibilities for apprentices, wherever possible, should they require some additional support around their mental health.
Whilst respecting boundaries, we take an extra step to care about each other’s interests and lives and support personal goals as well as professional ones. This starts with time set aside before our weekly call to socialise and check in with each other.
As you might expect, we are passionate about the role that sport and physical activity plays in supporting physical and mental health. We encourage our staff team to embed regular exercise into their working week, whether that be through regular breaks, or by joining virtual meetings whilst out on a walk.
We’ve also actively encouraged our apprentices to create their own mental health action plan, identifying the steps they can take to proactively support their wellbeing (for example, thinking about how they can embed more movement into their week).
We recognise that our commitment to supporting mental health is still in its infancy. We are continually seeking feedback from our staff, apprentices and employers, to understand their needs and identify additional support measures.
Everything from our morals to our actions are decided together to make sure every voice is heard. We are not perfect, but we strive to make sure everyone is supported.
Sounds good- but what’s next?
This Mental Health Awareness Week, we’ll be encouraging our network to participate in their own physical activity, to help support their mental health. Whether that’s heading out on a walk at lunchtime, ditching the car for a more active travel option, or simply taking the stairs instead of the lift- every minute counts! We’d love to hear more about our network are embedding movement and physical activity into their day!
In collaboration with Mental Health Foundation, we’ll also be wearing green on Friday 17th May, to help raise awareness of mental health. Why not join us and capture some footage of your physical activity at the same time!
We’ll be using this week to encourage our network to take regular breaks and check in on themselves and those around them. Please do take this opportunity to check in on those around you- why not even encourage them to join you with your physical activity?
Finally, you can hear about how our staff team embed movement for their mental health- just keep an eye on our socials across the week.
We know this is just the start of the journey for us- but please join us to promote positive mental health and encourage everyone to move for their mental health!
Looking where to get started? Hear from Phi on how he stays active even with a busy work-life: