Govox, a mental health and suicide prevention platform, has offered their services to 2,500 sports clubs. The programme, supported by former England footballer Andrew Johnson, is based on research that shows that 1 in 6 members of sports clubs want to ‘talk to someone’ about their mental health.
Launched by former rugby chairman, coach and player Richard Lucas, the aim is to offer Govox free to all sports clubs in Hertfordshire. The organisation plans to extend the programme to support sports clubs across the country.
Currently Govox offers tens of thousands of people across its ten jurisdictions mental health and wellbeing support. Tackling suicide, especially amongst males under 50 who are most at risk, is the focus of the programme. Figures show that 16% of members want to talk to someone, with 20% with no positive impressions of the future.
The Govox Sports Programme has been developed in collaboration with Kings College Hospital and the NHS. £1m worth of support will be offered alongside signposting to suicide prevention charities, including ANDYSMANCLUB and The Jordan Legacy. This is following their June announcement, which provided free access to the platform to 1000 state secondary schools.
Richard Lucas, Govox founder, added:
“Suicide impacts all kinds of people, but the stats show very clearly that it disproportionately impacts men under the age of 50 – exactly the same demographic we see heavily represented in sports clubs across the UK.
“In addition, suicides amongst younger women, aged 18-24 are increasing, and this is a way to reach them too. By working with HSP, we’ll be able to offer tens of thousands of people mental health support. I’d welcome representatives from sports organisations across the country to get in touch so we can work together to tackle mental health and suicide.”
To find out more about the programme, see here.
