Local footy clubs in Queensland are being encouraged to sign up to the Tackle Your Feelings program, which aims to provide community coaches with the tools to understand, recognise and manage their response to signs of mental health in their players.
The new program is free to join and involves attending a local face-to-face workshop and some short online modules.
AFL Coaching Development and Education Lead Queensland, Jack Barry, said the program provided coaches with access to simplified training and tools inspired by those used by professional AFL clubs and players.
“Tackle Your Feelings was designed to improve mental health resilience, support and to promote behaviours which support better mental health within Aussie Rules community football clubs,” he said.
“It’s higher purpose is to turn these clubs into mentally healthy communities, where coaches look out for the children, youth or adult players involved in the clubs, providing the appropriate support to them and their families.
“Tackle Your Feelings will provide training to the coaches and committee members at participating clubs, so as to equip these front-line volunteers with a better skills set to identify individual members of their club with a mental health problem and then to offer them appropriate support.
“Those participating Clubs will be accredited as Tackle Your Feelings clubs, a badge of honour they can use to promote their club.”
How to register
Coaches register via the CoachAFL website
When community coaches login to the CoachAFL system to register as a coach for the 2021 season they will be asked to complete a new Tackle Your Feelings awareness module called “Four Quarters of Mental Health Awareness”. This is an introductory module and not the full program.
Once these coaches complete the TYF module via CoachAFL they will also gain direct access to the TYF online platform where they can also book into local face-to-face workshops through an interactive map.
Coaches that complete the full Tackle Your Feelings journey, starting with the awareness module via CoachAFL, will be rewarded with six points towards their CPD requirements for 2021.
Non-Coaches (Committee Members and Other Volunteers)
Those who are NOT community footy coaches can still participate in the program by following the steps by registering directly through the Tackle Your Feelings website
The Tackle Your Feelings journey
Step 1 – Register directly through the Tackle Your Feelings website (non-coaches) or via CoachAFL (Coaches only) after completing the Four Quarters of Mental Health Awareness module (15mins)
Step 2 – Click on QLD on the interactive map, then book into your local Face-to-Face workshop
Step 3 – Attend a Tackle Your Feelings workshop in your local region (60-90mins)
Step 4 – Complete three Tackle Your Feelings online modules (junior, youth or adult streams) (3 x 20mins)
