Sign up to the Charter

The Charter is all about taking position action around mental health and physical activity.

Mental Health Charter for Sport and Recreation

You will be asked to commit to three actions when you sign-up to the Mental Health Charter. Don’t worry this isn’t a test, we know organisations are at different stages of their work around mental health so these will differ for each signatory.

To help you take action we've added some examples below.

Charter Commitment

Suggestions for signatory Action

Using the power of sport and recreation to promote wellbeing, with a special focus on encouraging physical activity and social interaction for their contribution to good mental health.

Sign the Charter at a high-profile event or an organisational wide event such as an all staff briefing.

Create a website and intranet page about mental health and our commitment to the Charter.

Organise a wellbeing day within my organisation.

Review policies and procedures with senior management and identify good practice and areas for development.

Publicly promoting and adopting good mental health policies and best practice within our sports and recreational activities.

Promote positive health behaviours and prevention measures e.g. introduce Wellness Action Plans for staff to support them to stay well.

Promoting positive public health messages using diverse role models and ambassadors to reduce the stigma attached to mental health problems.

Recruit ambassadors and champions who are willing to support the Charter including those who have personal experience /close experience of mental health problems and those who can champion the programme.

Actively tackling discrimination on the grounds of mental health to make sure that everyone is treated with dignity and respect.

World Mental Health Day (10 October)

Time to Talk Day (1 February)

Use #SportMinds when promoting our own activities.

Host a Q&A session with people who have personal experiences of mental health problems during an event or training day.

Create an open and friendly space where people can share experiences with one another. For example, organise a ‘fork, walk and talk’ session to bring people together.

Supporting the establishment of a network to work closely with the mental health sector to develop resources and best practice.

Sign-up to the Mental Health Charter Yammer group and introduce yourself to other signatories.

Put mental health and sharing best practice on the agenda at relevant meetings with partners.

Contact a colleague from another organisation to discuss their work around mental health.

Develop a case study to highlight the impact of your mental health work and share with the Mental Health Charter Steering Group so it can go on the Charter website.

Regularly monitoring our performance, assessing progress and taking positive action on mental health issues.

Set up a Charter working group bringing colleagues together from across my organisation.

Put mental health as an agenda item on team / department meetings.

Build mental health into our KPI and reporting systems.