Sporting Chance is today launching its Club Referral Pathway, a new scheme that allows club staff to access services run by the charity and utilise its mental health expertise in a more collaborative way.
Since 2000, Sporting Chance has run confidential helplines for players to contact directly and independently from their clubs. The opening of the Club Referral Pathway allows club medical and welfare teams to access support for their players within a robust framework of confidentiality.
Counsellor, Psychologist, Psychiatrist - What does your player need?
Sporting Chance has established its expertise over two decades working in professional sport, supporting the mental health and emotional wellbeing of thousands of professional sportspeople. The charity has access to a full range of mental health practitioners and experts, supporting athletes with both clinical diagnosis, and those who need emotional support outside of their club. This includes a network of talking therapists, psychiatrists and psychologists alongside our in-house clinical team. Sporting Chance continues to run the only residential clinic in the world exclusively for sportspeople with an addictive disorder and is the chosen mental health service provider for 19 stakeholders within UK Sport.
How to Access
By phoning 07500 000777 or emailing support@sportingchanceclinic.com club staff can discuss their players needs with one of our clinical team in order to devise an appropriate management plan that will include:
Access to Sporting Chance’s network of over 250 mental health practitioners
Access to practitioners in the first language of their player
Appointment times agreed within 5 days of referral
Access to Sporting Chance’s clinical team for free advice on player needs
Once the player has started their treatment plan, with consent, clubs will be fully integrated into the management plan through:
Information sharing set within a strict confidentiality framework
Reporting mechanism that confirms attendance of sessions
Discharge reports to support on-going care planning
The Club Referral Pathway is provided for clubs to provide optimal mental health care provision for their players. For the majority this is funded through our relationships with players unions, leagues and governing bodies that aim to support the sports we work with.*
Supporting Optimal Mental Health Care Provision
David Bartlett, was previously Head of Medical Services at Gloucestershire CCC and continues to work at the Welsh Fire said:
“Having worked in professional sport as a physio for over 10 years, it is a regular occurrence that players come to you in emotional discomfort. We are always looking to provide the best care for our athletes, and mental health provision is something that had limited coverage in my Sports Medicine degree. The ability to access Sporting Chance’s clinical team, expertise and network of mental health practitioners to individualise care for players really helps in our ambitions to optimise mental health care.”
Clubs can access the Club Referral Pathway Monday – Friday, from 0900-1700 by calling 07500 000777 or emailing support@sportingchanceclinic.com.
*Sporting Chance is committed to our principle of not profiting from an individual’s ill-health or suffering. We have established relationships with players unions, leagues and governing bodies that aim to support their sport. We will never double charge and with the agreement of umbrella stakeholders will offer support financed through existing arrangements when possible. There may be circumstances or individuals that fall outside such arrangements, all costs in such instances will be clearly explained to a referrer before proceeding.
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