Sport and Youth Mental Health Project
The Active Essex Foundation are excited to be able to deliver a Sport and Youth Mental Health Project to support young people experiencing low levels of emotional wellbeing. Physical activity can enhance lives at any stage, but engaging with young people as they develop can ensure their mental health can be improved and maintained into adulthood.
Approximately 36,000 young people, aged 5-18 years old, in Essex are experiencing low levels of emotional wellbeing, with 1 in 5 having a mental health problem. Half of all adult mental health problems start by the age of 14, with a direct link between poor mental health and physical health.
This innovative and important project will create a large and proactive mental health support offer for children and young people aged 5 – 18 years across Essex, using the medium of sport and physical activity as a tool for engagement to improve children and young people’s mental wellbeing and resilience.
This project is supporting many locally trusted community-based organisations across Essex, Southend and Thurrock, who are engaging with young people experiencing poor emotional wellbeing to ensure they are achieving the best possible outcomes, in settings that are viewed as safe spaces by young people. This includes a comprehensive training offer to ensure these community-based organisations feel equipped to support the growing needs of young people with low levels of mental health.
Our long-term aim is to prevent children and young people from getting to the stage where they need to access prolonged clinical treatment for their mental health, as well as collaborating with the mental health services across Essex to support the growing demand on these services, and working as a system to ensure the mental health support of children and young people are being met.
Monitoring and Evaluation
Collection of monitoring and evaluation data from all our delivery partners for the Sport and Youth Mental Health is essential to build the evidence of the impact you’re having on the young people that you are supporting through your respective programmes.
It also provides valuable learning to build on what is working well and to demonstrate the need for more sustainable funding models to continue to provide this type of support for children and young people in your local areas and across Essex.
Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Explained
Please find a number of resources that you will need below in order to collect data for the project.
ASWS Parent and Carer Info Consent Form
ASWS Version 1 aged 5 7, ASWS Version 2 aged 8 10, ASWS Version 3 aged 10+
Quarterly Provider Survey
SYMH Pen Portrait
Year 1 Lottery Report 2024
Read more about our Sport and Youth Mental Health project across Essex, which will aim to improve and/or prevent worsening poor mental health and wellbeing for children and young people, using sport and physical activity as a tool for engagement.
