Kent FA are delighted to offer another 25 fully funded places for individuals to undertake a Mental Health First Aid England Half Day Youth Mental Health course and a Kooth introductory workshop to become a Mental Health Champion within your club! 

To apply for one of the 25 fully funded places, please complete the short application form which can be found by clicking here.

Applications are open from Friday 5th July and close on Friday 19th July 2024. Successful applicants will be notified shortly after the close of applications.

PLEASE NOTE – You must be available to attend both workshops (which are online via zoom), taking place on Monday 12th August from 6:30pm-9:30pm and Monday 19th August from 7:30pm-8:30pm.

Why Become a Mental Health Champion?

• Chance to learn about an important subject and how it impacts young people.
• Opportunity to put mental health on the agenda at your club.
• Opportunity to promote the importance of mental health awareness.
• Help educate young people on what good mental health looks like.
• Opportunity to signpost, support and raise awareness of mental health.

The Mental Health provision available to clubs operating in the youth game in Kent continues to be supported by Kooth and the Tommy Crush Foundation and we are proud at Kent FA to be able to fully fund this opportunity for a second consecutive season. The 25 successful applicants will have the opportunity to undertake training in the form of a Youth Half Day Mental Health First Aid workshop delivered by Simon Millington of De La Mill Tutoring, which covers a variety of areas focusing on supporting the mental health of young people and a Kooth Introductory Workshop, explaining and outlining how their services can be used by young people and how has a Champion you can signpost young people towards their services and resources.

To access the training to become a Mental Health Champion, individuals will be required to: 

• Hold as a minimum the FA Safeguarding Children qualification.
• Hold a valid FA DBS Check.
• Be available to attend the online Youth Mental Health First Aid Half Day Course on Monday 12th August from 6:30-9:30pm.
• Be available to attend the online training event with Kooth on Monday 19th August 7:30-8:30pm.

A Mental Health Champion should:

• Promote within your club or league what good mental health looks like.
• Explore opportunities to make it easier to talk about mental health in football.
• Provide information about mental health to players and parents/carers and signpost to local and national support services such as Kooth.
• Ensure mental health is at the forefront of club activities.
• Report any concerns about a young person’s welfare in line with the FA Safeguarding reporting pathway.
• Attending a minimum of 2 online Mental Health Champion meetings hosted by Kent FA per year, which offers peer to peer support, networking, and updates.
• Attend at least 1 CPD workshop provided for free by Kent FA each season to all Champions.

Welfare Officers are welcome to apply to access the training to become a Mental Health Champion to supplement their existing role, but the programme is open to anyone working within a club with youth teams who has a passion around improving mental health.

Kooth have been the UK’s leading provider to the NHS in effective online mental health support for the last 15 years. They offer free, online counselling support for young people, discussion boards, magazines, and mini activities to monitor and improve mental health. 

For more information on this opportunity or for enquires about Mental Health Champions, please contact toby.elgar@kentfa.com