England Golf recognises that 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem each year. This means that potentially 195,000 golfers, who are club members or iGolfers, might experience mental health problems each year.
As golfers, we understand that golf can be great for our mental health, but what about the times when golf may not be enough to improve your mental health?
For clubs, Fore Your Mind has the following aims:
1. To support clubs in educating golfers about the importance of mental health
2. To use that information and encourage golfers to ask their friends, family or four-ball - "Are you okay?"
3. To support clubs in putting in place the guidance needed to signpost golfers to support, should they need it
4. To ensure that anyone working in the golf industry has an understanding of the support available to them from their own membership body
Call 999 if you think someone’s life is at immediate risk, or call your local crisis team.
Golfers can find out more about what they can do to support people with poor mental health here: https://www.englandgolf.org/fore-your-mind.
Information
Overall information on mental health can be found here: What are mental health problems? - Mind.
Causes
Information on the causes of poor mental health can be found here: What causes mental health problems? - Mind.
England Golf wants to encourage golfers to spot the signs within their club, friendship group or four-ball. We are doing this by supporting golfers to be aware of these signs within their clubs, and to feel confident to signpost people to either a Mental Health First Aider (MHFA), the NHS, or other professional support.
Support
Clubs have the opportunity to train Mental Health First Aiders in order to support members and visitors who may be experiencing poor mental health. The role of a MHFA is to identify if someone may be experiencing poor mental health, to have an initial conversation, and to signpost that person to the appropriate support through the MHFA app.
More information on MHFA England is available in the video below:
Below is a case study from Bedfordshire County who have trained 15 Mental Health First Aiders in collaboration with England Golf. If your club is interested in training a Mental Health First Aider, please fill in the expression of interest form here.