Smokefree Mental Health Brief Intervention Training for ‘Imagine Your Goals’ Project

A smokefree mental health brief intervention training package aimed at professional sports clubs with interventions addressing mental health issues has recently been developed and successfully delivered in conjunction with the European Healthy Stadia Network's parent charity, Heart of Mersey. Heart of Mersey has delivered this training at an initial pilot session to community coaches attached to Everton Football Club’s ‘Imagine Your Goals’ mental health programme.

Everton’s Imagine Your Goals programme uses the power of football as a positive vehicle to address a number of different issues relating to mental illness. Sport and Leisure co-ordinators from various mental health day centres on Merseyside have helped those who have experienced mental health problems to re gain their confidence through weekly coaching sessions. As the first project of its kind in the country to be delivered by a professional football club and owing to the project’s success on Merseyside, the English Premier League have now partnered with national mental health charity ‘Time To Change’ and Comic/Sport Relief to fund other Premier League clubs to replicate some element of ‘Imagine Your Goals’.

In mid-October Heart of Mersey delivered a 90 minute training session offering background information, smoking cessation brief intervention training and specialist materials for coaches attached to Everton’s Imagine Your Goals programme. Research has highlighted much higher levels of smoking amongst people living with a mental health condition, with evidence showing that nearly half (42%) of all tobacco consumption in England is by people living with a mental health condition. The course is therefore designed specifically for coaches to work with mental health service users on the topic of smoking reduction and cessation. Feedback from participants on the course was very strong, with participants intending to incorporate stop smoking advice and support to people living with a mental health condition into their working practice.

It is envisaged that the training will be rolled out as a ‘train the trainer’ package for further capacity building and increased referral to local stop smoking services to other professional sports clubs who are delivering Imagine Your Goals projects or similar mental health interventions.

For further information and to request a copy of the evaluation, please contact Jo McCullagh, Tobacco Control Lead for Heart of Mersey: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Network Publishes New Academic Paper in Health Promotion International (Oxford University Press)

The Network is pleased to announce the publication of a new academic paper entitled "Good practices and health policy analysis in European sports stadia: results from the ‘Healthy Stadia’ project" in Health Promotion International (HPI). The article details the key findings taken from the EU funded European Healthy Stadia pilot project that ran between July 2007 and December 2009.

Co-authored by national partners from the European Healthy Stadia Network, and led by Polish partner – Professor Wojciech Drygas, the article details a study within the EU pilot project that explored a cross-section of ‘good practices’ relating to health policies and interventions in sports stadia. Using a specially designed questionnaire, information about health policies and good practices were collected in 10 European countries relating to: food offerings in stadia, physical activity promotion among local communities, tobacco policy, positive mental health initiatives, environmental sustainability practices and social responsibility policies.

The audit results show that stadia health policies differ considerably between specific countries and individual sports, with the discussion section of the paper going on to suggest that that there are considerable opportunities for stadia to become health promoting settings.

This is the second paper to be published by the Network in 2011, following on from the Healthy Stadia article that appeared in this year’s collection Sustainability and Sport (Common ground Publishing), with preparations already underway for further articles to appear in 2012.

The article will be available as a hard copy in early 2012, and is accessible online in the Advanced Articles section of the HPI website here

RESPONSIBALL: A brand new home for CSR practitioners in the football sector

RESPONSIBALL, the first social responsibility platform for football club has recently been launched. It is a free-to-use website for football clubs of all sizes in all countries. The platform www.responsiball.org has been designed to host a community that supports RESPONSIBALL’s motto, ‘football clubs are more than just businesses; they are cultural institutions.’

Light on text, simple to navigate, and easy to use, RESPONSIBALL is built on a framework that encourages the creation and exchange of user-generated content. Clubs, leagues, associations and federations are invited to register. They will be prompted to create a profile page for themselves and their clubs or organisations. They can use the Community section, which is structured to connect practitioners, enables them to upload and share good practices, and compare and progress with other clubs.

One of the first agencies working in the field of CSR to partner with RESPONSIBALL is the European Healthy Stadia Network, who will be offering critical insight into examples of health policies and practices adopted by clubs. RESPONSIBALL is also designed to showcase the great work and potential that lies within the practice of social responsibility at football clubs. It should be informative to fans, sponsors, the media, NGOs and governmental bodies, among other groups.

Piara Powar, Director of the FARE network, European football’s anti-discrimination and social inclusion network, said, “FARE wholeheartedly supports the concept of RESPONSIBALL.

“We hope that professional and amateur football clubs in all countries would benefit greatly from the resources that this platform can provide.

“If these benefits can be transferred, in turn, to the local areas in which those clubs reside, we can expect to see an even greater positive impact of football in communities.”

FARE is among a group of selected expert organisations currently contributing to the platform.

The platform is administered by Schwery Consulting, a Swiss social enterprise. Its Director, Rolf Schwery, explained, “Football clubs are doing great things already. What’s missing is a hub to connect, share and highlight these experiences and to balance it with current knowledge of social responsibility standards. Our intention with RESPONSIBALL is to fill this gap.”

For further details please view the platform - www.responsiball.org - or contact:

Daniel Cade: +41 79 259 83 61
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

European Healthy Stadia Network Develops Resources for Official Community Health Education Programme of UEFA EURO 2012

The European Healthy Stadia Network is pleased to announce its involvement in the EURO 2012 project ‘RESPECT your Health – Euroschools 2012’, recently launched as a part of UEFA’s RESPECT campaign.

The project will promote healthy lifestyles to local communities, with a focus on smoking prevention, healthy diet, moderation in alcohol consumption, and encouraging physical activity among young people and their parents in Poland and Ukraine. Based on a ‘train the trainer’ model, schools, NGOs and local coaches in the eight UEFA EURO 2012 host cities will be empowered to combine sport sessions with structured health education messages aimed at improving health literacy and bringing about long-term behaviour change.

Following up on its role in advocating for a tobacco-free EURO 2012, the European Healthy Stadia Network has partnered closely with RESPECT your Health’s coordinating agency – streetfootballworld – to develop health content for a specially designed ‘toolkit’ that guides coaches, teachers and animators on how to use the power of football to improve health. The toolkit contains information on lifestyle risk factors, short-term and long-term disease states and a host of sports-orientated games and exercises to help deliver key messages in a fun and systematic way. Activities in schools, youth centres and sport clubs have already begun, whilst the toolkit is available to view along with latest news at: www.respectyourhealth.eu

In addition to streetfootballworld, RESPECT your Health will be implemented by a wide range of partners: Volunteers for Sport, PL.2012 and the School Sports Association in Poland; the Football Federation of Ukraine and Open Fun Football Schools in Ukraine; and, the European Healthy Stadia Network, World Heart Federation and Muuvit.

UEFA’s RESPECT campaign will tackle some of Europe’s key social issues aiming to raise awareness and positively affect the lives of people in Poland and Ukraine. The RESPECT campaign, UEFA’s social responsibility initiative, was originally launched by the UEFA president at UEFA EURO 2008 in Austria and Switzerland. Speaking about the importance of the RESPECT campaign, Michel Platini said:

“As the governing body of European football, UEFA has the responsibility to protect the game and its supporters. RESPECT at EURO highlights UEFA’s continuous commitment to combat any form of discrimination, increase access for fans with disabilities, promote health through physical activity and encourage intercultural dialogue between fans and the host cities”.

For more information on UEFA’s RESPECT projects for EURO 2012 click here or see www.uefa.com