The Herts Sports and Physical Activity Partnership (HSP) will hold its inaugural mental health conference online next month.
Taking place on September 17, anyone tuning in will have a full, free programme to choose from, starting with RED January’s Hannah Beecham; wellbeing check-in service GoVox and a bespoke webinar discussing how to evaluate mental health projects.
In the afternoon author and eating disorder specialist Hope Virgo talks about how to ‘Raise Awareness and Challenge the Stigma’, before the day finishes with Hertfordshire’s ‘Just Talk’ campaign – a movement dedicated to encouraging young people to speak about their mental health.
ADVOCATE
Project Officer Alicja Polak has organised the event under the guise of HSP’s wider role as the East of England Mind Network Hub. Until March 2021, HSP has a responsibility to advocate mental health across the region.
“Now more than ever, it's important to look at the link between physical activity and mental health,” said Alicja. “We are excited to host the conference and have so many great speakers involved who in their everyday lives, advocate for positive wellbeing.
“By bringing the event online, we can undoubtedly cater for a larger audience than if we were at our usual ‘home’ - the University of Hertfordshire - so the restrictions may actually enable us to share such vital messages further into the region than we had initially anticipated.’
RESPONSIBILITY
HSP Director John O’Callaghan added: “As we continue to emerge from the pandemic, we have a responsibility to create a new type of frontline support for mental health within the field of sport and physical activity.
“We have spent a number of years supporting the county’s sporting workforce to equip themselves with the right qualifications and soft skills to deliver their activities; now we need to ensure that they have the chance to make life changing differences to their participants’ mental wellbeing, too.”
To sign up to the webinars, please visit www.sportinherts.org.uk by Monday 14 September.
