COVENTRY College has signed up to the Mental Health Ambassador programme which is aimed at using sport to improve young people’s wellbeing.
The plan has been developed by the Association of Colleges in partnership with the charity Mind.
The college’s first year Rugby Education Programme student Loui Whitmore has volunteered to be the college’s dedicated Mental Health Ambassador for the next academic year.
He will undertake training to help him devise his own personal wellbeing plan and share it with his student peers.
Loui said: “It’s important everyone feels like they have support during these unprecedented times that we are living in – which is why I was so keen to volunteer for this opportunity.
“As students we have had to adapt to the way we combine practical sessions with academic study.”
He added hopefully the wellbeing plan would benefit the other students who needed it and said creative ways of exercising both the body and mind were needed at this time when we were being asked to stay indoors.
Pete Glackin, Coventry College’s academies manager, is supporting Loui with his role.
He said: “All of our sporting programmes give students a taste of what life is like for elite athletes – including following nutritional advice and recording their diet, as well as video analysis of training and games – and this mental health initiative is an extension of this approach.
“Mental health is a topic that is at the forefront of society now – particularly elite sport – so it’s crucial that the next generation of athletes, such as the ones we have at Coventry College, are aware of ways that they can help themselves, and others, if they are going through a difficult time.”
Visit aocsport.co.uk/sports-development/mental-health-ambassadors for more on the Mental Health Ambassador Programme and coventrycollege.ac.uk for more on the college.
