SPEAK UP! Stay ChatTY Sports Program

Mental health education for athletes

The Stay ChatTY Sports Program aims to educate athletes about mental health, well-being and where to get support.

Stay ChatTY has been delivering the program since 2018. Since then, we have reached more than 6000 athletes in more than 150 sporting clubs across Tasmania to deliver key messages about mental health, seeking help and supporting a team mate.

The program consists of a series of presentations that are delivered to both senior and junior sporting and recreation clubs across Tasmania, with participants aged from 10 years upwards.

The senior program consists of two sessions. The first session, Building Mental Muscle, helps athletes gain confidence in discussing their mental health and supporting teammates. The second session, Stress2Strengths, focuses on creating a positive team culture and equips athletes with stress management tools for both sports and daily life.

For junior athletes, we offer ChatTY Minds which teaches them how to identify stress and its effects on their body and thoughts.

For junior athletes, we offer ChatTY Minds which teaches them how to identify stress and its effects on their body and thoughts. We explore the concept of the inner critic and ways to tame it while building their inner coach. The newly-developed Bounce! session focuses on developing resilience, identifying strengths, and understanding the importance of teamwork. Through hands-on, fast-paced activities and brainstorming, participants are guided towards developing personalised strategies to help them navigate through challenges.

During the past year, we delivered 52 sports sessions across the state, covering various sporting and recreational activities such as basketball, football, soccer, netball, cricket, softball, futsal, gymnasiums, roller derby, racing, athlete development, and sporting first aid.

Through hands-on, fast-paced activities and brainstorming, participants are guided towards developing personalised strategies to help them navigate through challenges.

The Sports Program is truly a statewide service, and we were able to deliver 30% of our sessions in the North, 50% in the South and 20% in the North-West of Tasmania.

This year, we also strengthened and developed new relationships with Basketball Tasmania and Hockey Tasmania. Our presentations are now a key part of their junior development programs.