2nd Edition

Mental Health and Well-being Interventions in Sport Research, Theory and Practice

Edited By Gavin Breslin, Gerard Leavey Copyright 2024
    254 Pages 8 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    254 Pages 8 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Now in its second edition, this book provides a focused, comprehensive overview of up-to-date mental health research, models, and approaches in sport, with expertise from global experts in the field.

    Mental health remains a widely growing area in the field of sport psychology, which requires expert guidance and care in promoting effective well-being for athletes, coaches and sport officials. Fully updated throughout, Mental Health and Well-being Interventions in Sport is an indispensable guide for researchers, practitioners and students wanting to understand and implement sport-based intervention processes. This important book adopts an evidenced based approach, discussing the context of the intervention, its design and implementation, and its evaluation and legacy. Exploring areas such as injury, rehabilitation, depression, eating disorders, verbal and physical abuse, and athletic burnout, this insightful volume dissects emerging research into straightforward accessible chapters. Offering a cutting-edge overview of the key issues involved in this burgeoning area, as well as example cases of how sport has been used in extreme environments such as prisons as a method to improve mental health, the book will benefit practitioners, policy makers and researchers.

    Written for newcomers and established practitioners across a variety of sports setting and contexts, the authors highlight the need for "another call to action" to support the mental health and wellbeing of all involved in sport. Presenting current research, theory and practice in the field, the text is an essential read for researchers, practitioners, and coaches to better understand sport-based intervention processes.

    1. Getting Started an overview
    Gavin Breslin and Gerard Leavey

    Section 1. Development of mental health awareness programmes for athletes, coaches, match officials and parents

    2. The Optimum Performance Program in Sports (TOPPS)
    Brad Donohue and Kristin Brooks

    3. Prevention of burnout and depression in junior elite swimmers
    Insa Nixdorf, Jürgen Beckmann and Raphael Nixdorf

    4. Bolstering psychological health using Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy
    Martin J. Turner, Andrew G. Wood, Jamie B. Barker and Ailish King

    5. Enhancing mental health awareness and self-management via mindfulness-based exercises: The State of Mind Ireland (SOMI) programme
    Gavin Breslin, Tandy Jane Haughey and Stephen Shannon

    6. Ahead of the game: International scale-up of evidence-based mental health programming
    Stewart A. Vella, Sarah K. Liddle, Matthew J. Schweickle, Christian Swann, Angelina Lim, Emily Arnold and Caitlin Liddelow

    7. Navigating Mental Illness and Brain Injury in Amateur Rugby
    Thomas McCabe

    8. Supporting Sports Officials’ Mental Health and Well-being Using the Trauma-Informed Practice Developmental Model
    Noel Brick, Gavin Breslin, Mikel Mellick, and Tom Webb

    Section 2. Engaging the wider community in mental health awareness through sport

    9. Tackling the Blues: A Sport and Arts-based mental health programme for children and young people
    Andy Smith, Rachel Wilcock, Aston Monro, Helen O’Keeffe and Jon Jones

    10. Applying Self Determination Theory to Motivate Prisoners to Exercise: The Cell Workout Workshops
    Hannah Sian Hammond and Rosie Meek

    11. Mental health and well-being of men in prison: Evidence from the Active Choices Rugby and State of Mind Sport Programmes.
    David Woods and Gavin Breslin

    12. Stay Onside and Fresh Start Programmes for Young People at Risk of Criminality
    Conor Murray, Gavin Breslin, and Brendan Coyle

    13. Another Call to Action: Critical reflections and the way forward for mental health in sport
    Gavin Breslin and Gerard Leavey

    Biography

    Gavin Breslin is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Queen's University Belfast, UK.

    Gerard Leavey is Director of the Bamford Centre for Mental Health and Well-being at Ulster University, UK.