Anyone working on the front line within the sport and criminal justice sphere knows that the work can take a toll. Working with children who have a complex range of issues can be emotionally exhausting – so who cares for the carers?
As part of Levelling the Playing Field’s focus on mental health, we asked our specialist partners, Palace for Life Foundation, about their recent development of wellbeing support for staff.
Palace for Life Foundation run several targeted programmes with children and young people in partnership with the police and statutory agencies, including Kicks and the Twinning Project. Further projects include clinical supervision as part of the support package for young people: the Advantage Mentoring programme and the London Vanguard Community Multi-Systems Violence Reduction Project (CPSVP) with the Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust.
Managers, trained mentors and sessional sports coaches deliver these programmes, using sport and physical activity as an engagement tool. They build relationships and support children who, in many cases, are facing trauma, behavioural issues, anxiety and everyday adversity with housing, employment, crime, poverty and more.
It’s tough work, delivered by passionate people who strive relentlessly to achieve the best possible outcomes for participants. Recognising this, Palace for Life installed Sarah Hoddy as its Targeted Intervention Manager (Therapeutic and Preventative Practices). She has set up staff wellbeing and mental health support and has some valuable advice for other organisations in the Levelling the Playing Field network and in the wider Sport for Development sector.
“Like many others, I have previously experienced toxic workplaces where you wouldn’t receive much support if you revealed you were struggling with emotions brought on by work,” says Sarah. “Here, I’m trying to provide the antithesis to that.
“It’s a very difficult job, so you need to be able to say, ‘I’m having a bad day, can I talk to you about it?’ That’s the environment I’m trying to foster.”
Palace for Life are partners in the Vanguard project with Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, whose clinicians and counsellors work with children and young people who are referred by the Youth Justice Service – the premise being that a football club is a much better environment for building effective engagement than an NHS building.
Those expert clinicians are also available for mentors, supporting staff welfare and offering them a safe space for reflective practice. There, they can seek practical advice and guidance about cases. Staff can meet clinicians in person and set up separate sessions if required.
“The idea is that staff can offload to someone who is ‘neutral’ and not part of our internal staff team, so they can talk about the impact it’s having on them,” says Sarah. ”A particular case may have triggered their own issues or they may simply need to unburden themselves.
“We’ve encouraged a culture where it’s acknowledged that staff are dealing with a lot of stuff, and to let us know when the pile gets too high. We let them know they are appreciated.
“It’s for them to use however they want to. It’s to support staff to get the best out of young people but also the best out of themselves.”
Additionally, Sarah and colleague Rashan McDonald ensure they are always available to take day-to-day worries off staff members’ shoulders – not just by listening but by making changes to their workload, if necessary.
“They may be really stressed out and need to get something off their chest before going to their next meeting,” explains Sarah. “We appreciate they are dealing with a lot of emotions when working with these young people and they occasionally just need to let it all out. They can come to us and hopefully feel heard and supported.”
One staff member finds one-to-one intervention work particularly tough but loves being active, so Sarah altered their schedule slightly to find a more balanced mix of sports delivery and mentoring.
“We understood that the physical activity that’s part of those football delivery sessions was forming part of his coping strategy and allowed him to release pent-up emotions,” said Sarah. “So we got him delivering in a slightly different way. It created some separation from the intense stuff. Creating fun in the role is really, really important.”
As a manager, Sarah ensures that she stays grounded by having her own caseload of mentees (she is currently undertaking the Level 3 mentoring training provided by Levelling the Playing Field).
“Having my own cases is something I really need,” Sarah says. “When I see my mentee making really good progress, it reminds me why we put all the work in. With all the pressures of management, there’s a danger I get disengaged. I wouldn’t ever want someone to say to me, ‘When did you last speak to a young person?’ I want to always have my ear to the ground.”
One last piece of advice from Sarah is a very simple one: don’t be scared of sometimes saying no. “That is a huge thing to have to do,” she admits, “But sometimes the most productive course of action, in the long term, is to say, ‘We see you, we hear you, but right now we don’t have the capacity to offer you the support you need.’
“Hopefully, you can refer them to something different, but if there’s no-one else to support them, taking on everyone needing support is a hell of a lot of pressure on your shoulders.”