Sport Coach+: Promoting the mental health of young people affected by displacement through safe and supportive sport

Sport has the potential to support children’s mental and physical wellbeing. However, when sport is not delivered in safe and supportive ways, it can cause harm – especially for children experiencing the stresses of displacement. Thus, the Olympic Refuge Foundation (ORF) co-created a model for safe and supportive sport, together with sport coaches working with displaced young people in the Ukraine crisis response and with the MHPSS Hub. SC+ was pilot tested in Paris, Moldova, and Poland with an iterative design process of culturally and contextually relevant and adaptable guidance and training materials. Research results demonstrated that the model is feasible, acceptable, and appropriate for sport coaches, and aimed to test and evaluate a protocol to concurrently collect data from trainers, coaches, and youth in Moldova, Ukraine, and Bulgaria. This interactive session will discuss preliminary research findings, lessons learned from implementation, and data collection techniques in humanitarian settings.

You can access the main platform of the event to see the general program and register to the event here.