MENTAL FITNESS CHARTER

Mental Fitness is a positive state that is characterised by feeling good emotionally, functioning well socially and psychologically, and having a sense of meaning and purpose in life. At AFI, we believe mental fitness is equally important to our game and our participants as physical fitness.

WHAT IS MENTAL HEALTH?

The term mental health is an umbrella term for the full spectrum of human psychological and social experiences. It’s about our thoughts, emotions, behaviours, how we feel about ourselves, relate to others, and function in our day-to-day life. Wellbeing refers to feeling good, functioning well, having positive relationships, and a sense of a purpose and meaning in life.

WHY IS MENTAL HEALTH IMPORTANT?

  • Good mental health and wellbeing is a vital individual and community asset.

  • It’s the fuel that allows us to feel good and function well in our studies, work, relationships and life. High levels of mental health and wellbeing help us to deal with life’s changes and challenges, perform at our best, be productive, fulfil our potential and contribute to others.

  • By contrast, mental ill-health causes distress and may disrupt our relationships, interferes with our day-to-day functioning, and if severe, may lead to psychosocial disability. It can also contribute to death by suicide. Community wellbeing is protective for individuals and their families. It is the combination of social and environmental conditions that allows whole communities to thrive. We believe that our mental health is equally as important as our physical health, and it’s something that we need to actively support, individually and collectively, to promote and protect our mental health and wellbeing.

  • We can do this by looking after our own mental health and actively supporting people who are experiencing mental health challenges. We can also do this by working together to create mentally healthy environments in the places that we learn, work, live – and play sport.

HOW CAN AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL CLUBS AND COMMUNITIES POSITIVELY CONTRIBUTE TO MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING?

  • Football environments can play a pivotal role in enhancing the mental health and wellbeing of their communities by pledging their commitment to the Mental Fitness Charter.

  • Endorsing the Mental Fitness Charter demonstrates a club’s commitment to maximising the mental health benefits of participation in community sport and creating a club environment which promotes wellbeing – where people feel safe, valued, and supported.

  • It is a voluntary commitment to a set of 5 principles, that clubs can use to promote the mental health and wellbeing of players, coaches, umpires, members, supporters, and others involved in their club. It also helps clubs support people who are experiencing mental health difficulties.

  • Mental health and wellbeing is good for individuals, good for clubs, and good for our communities.

STAYING MENTALLY FIT

  • Staying mentally fit in life requires knowledge and skills about how to protect and promote wellbeing.

  • Mental fitness helps us cope with stress and life challenges. Mental fitness is something we can build, maintain and grow individually and collectively. Growing and maintaining mental fitness requires action across many different areas, such as:

  • Getting good quality sleep
  • Regularly keeping physically active
  • Eating a high-quality diet
  • Avoiding cigarettes and illicit substances, and avoiding or limiting alcohol
  • Learning the social and emotional skills to cope with life stress and solve problems in life
  • Spending time in nature such as green and blue spaces
  • Learning the psychological skills that help us to relax our body and regulate our emotions
  • Learning and maintaining a realistic mindset and managing unhelpful thoughts
  • Building positive and respectful relationships, engaging in quality social connections through footy and accessing social supports when we need them
  • Getting involved in work, hobbies and activities like playing or officiating footy that build our self-confidence and give us a sense of pleasure and accomplishment
  • Contributing to work, hobbies and activities like playing or officiating footy that give us a sense of direction, meaning and purpose in life
  • Giving to others and contributing to a charity or cause
  • Treating others with compassion and respect and calling out stigma about mental ill-health, along with bullying, racism, and discrimination
  • Learning to recognise when we are struggling and may need professional support, and knowing where to go for support
  • Learning to recognise when others are doing it tough and having the skills to reach out to help them access the help they need.
  • Doing these things on a regular basis can enhance our mental fitness and reduce our risk of experiencing mental health challenges. They can also save someone’s life.

PROMOTING MENTAL FITNESS THROUGH AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL

  • Community football clubs have an important role to play in promoting people’s mental fitness.

  • The Mental Fitness Charter is a call to action for football communities to value mental fitness as equal to physical fitness.

  • Many mental fitness skills can be built through involvement in community football, like playing, watching, and officiating football. Footy is therefore a powerful means of building mental fitness. Other mental fitness skills can be taught by embedding mental health and wellbeing programs in football.

  • AFI encourages community football clubs to play their role in promoting their community’s mental health and wellbeing by implementing the 5 commitments of the mental fitness charter. By becoming a mentally fit club, clubs can support the mental health and wellbeing of their communities.

THE FIVE COMMITMENTS OF THE MENTAL FITNESS CHARTER

Mentally fit clubs build a mental fitness quick wins action plan that follows these 5 commitments:

1. Commit to build mental fitness skills

Staying mentally fit in life involves our ability to use resources and skills to flexibly adapt to challenges (or advantages), so we can thrive. Mental fitness helps us cope with stress and life challenges.

Mental Fitness can be integrated into the club’s everyday activities.

2. Commit to increase mental health literacy and challenge stigma

Mental health literacy involves knowing the signs when you (or someone else) are struggling and knowing how to support them and where to go for help. An example would be knowing how to search information online about mental health self-help strategies or having the skills to have a supportive conversation to help someone access a mental health professional.

Mental health literacy also involves having knowledge about risk factors and causes of mental ill-health and knowing how to protect and promote positive mental health.

Challenging stigma refers to efforts to dispelling harmful myths and educating against inaccurate stereotyping surrounding mental health. Stigma towards others or yourself can prevent someone from reaching out for help. Challenging stigma is important to ensure individuals and communities are empowered to seek help when needed.

3. Commit to reducing risks to mental health

There are many risk and protective factors for mental health that can vary from person to person and across different phases of an
individual’s life. Reducing risk factors can help reduce the risk of mental health problems first, and ensures everyone feels safe, valued and included. Common risk factors to mental health include exposure to bullying and harassment, social isolation and loneliness, and reduced coping skills. There are many opportunities to reduce risks to mental health through football communities which can help improve future mental health outcomes.

4. Commit to promoting a culture of wellbeing

A culture of wellbeing refers to the environment and community beyond the individual that fosters psychological, social and emotional
health. A culture of wellbeing supports people from all skill levels and backgrounds to enjoy the wellbeing benefits of playing, coaching, officiating, or watching football. A culture of wellbeing also contributes to on-field performance.

5. Commit to responding to risky events that have an impact on mental health

Unfortunately, there are sometimes risky events in football communities which may negatively impact mental health, such as a mental health crisis or critical incident. A critical incident is an extraordinary situation such as a natural disaster or serious accident
typically causing a significant impact on the collective wellbeing of the football club, its members, and the wider community. Ensuring
response teams and plans are in place at the beginning of each season and readied to respond to critical incidents is important.