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2 Mar 2021 | 6:06

The Sport for Development Coalition has partnered with Mind, the mental health charity, to help bolster the role of sport in tackling the wellbeing crisis brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The collaboration commenced at the Coalition’s first online event of 2021, ‘Sport tackles the Wellbeing Crisis’, which was streamed live on the Coalition website on Wednesday 10th March. 

Hayley Jarvis, Head of Physical Activity for Mind, was our guest co-host alongside Ollie Dudfield, the Executive Director of the Coalition.

FORMAT

The online event, which was the first instalment of the Coalition’s new quarterly communications format for 2021, examined how sport and activity can be used to improve mental health, wellbeing and resilience. 

It will be followed by the publication of a policy paper on the same theme, that draws on evidence gathered from across the sector. This will underpin a policy forum with key stakeholders and policy-makers in spring. 

More than one in four young people surveyed in the Prince’s Trust 2021 Youth Index said they had felt unable to cope with life since the start of the pandemic, increasing to 40% of young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEET). Half of 16 to 25-year-olds said their mental health had worsened since the start of the pandemic.

‘Sport tackles the Wellbeing Crisis’ is part of the Coalition’s over-arching ‘Adapt, Support, Respond’ initiative which aims to support, evidence and advocate for sport and physical activity’s contribution to the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. 

For 2021, the Coalition will move to a quarterly format with a key policy issues examined each quarter. The quarterly format, which will be repeated throughout 2021 and into next year, has been created to support the Coalition’s core objectives of advocacy, impact and investment, and following extensive consultation with supporters of the movement, and key stakeholders across the sector.

Coming soon from Mind: Mental health at work in sport and physical activity, Tuesday 30th March (1100-1230)