MARCH 2013

Tyrone GAA Youth ConferenceDate: M\arch 7th 2013 Venue: Tyrone GAA HQ at Garvaghey

Time: 6.45pm – 9.30pm‘The Winner Within’

Addressing the Emotional Health and Wellbeing of Young Players

7:00pm: Introduction Ciaran McLaughlin, Cathaoirleach / Stephen McHugh, Youth Committee Chairman.

7: 10pm: ‘Sports psychology: time to think beyond performance and acknowledge the presence of mental illness amongst athletes’Dr Lynette Hughes (BSC. MA. Ph.D)

8:00pm: Safeguarding in Clubs: promoting the ‘Code’Kathryn Anderson, Oifigeach Leanaí (County Children’s Officer)

8:15pm: The role GAA can play in addressing suicide prevention through promotion of SafeTALK training for local Clubs. Brendan Bonner Head of Health and Social Well-being Improvement (West) Public Health

Agency.

8:30pm: Sharing Best Practice in Managing Youth Affairs at Club level Stephen McHugh, Chairman Tyrone Youth Committee.

8:45pm: How to Develop Self - Empowerment in Young Players.Brendan Harpur, Oiliúna & Forbartha (County Coaching Officer)

9:15pm: Plenary / CloseBUFFET

Sports psychology: beyond performance,

acknowledging mental illness amongst athletes

Dr. Lynette Hughes

Arousal

POMS (profile of mood states)

Individualised zones of optimal functioning (IZOF; Hanin)

5-a-day for mental wellbeing

Physical Activity can compromise

health

Overtraining (20-60%)

Injury (10-20% warranting clinical intervention)

Burnout (10%)

Correlates with depression and major

depressivedisorder.5,7

Risk for sudden cardiac death (2.5

fold) and other non-cardiovascular

conditions (2.3-fold)

Eating disorders (17.2-32%)

Iron deficiency, gastrointestinal

symptoms, diabetes mellitus

Immunological suppression,

incidence of allergies and infection

Depression (21.4%)

Variation in:• Diagnosis• TreatmentDoctors in sports

environment:• under intense pressure

from management, coaches, trainers and agents to improve performance in the short term

• Faced with a myriad of ethical dilemmas that compromise the well-being and treatment of the athlete.7

Concerns for athletes

SAME SYMPTOMS

• Requires high investment of time and energy

• loss of personal autonomy• disempowerment for athletes

Social world of many organised elite sports (2)

• result in ‘identity-foreclosure’• leaving athletes few other

avenues through which to shape and reflect personality.

• High athletic identity linked to psychological distress when this function of identity is removed, and to overtraining and athlete burnout.

Elite-sport environment (3)

Vulnerabilities to Mental Illness

Identity frequently tested

Uni-dimensional identity = all eggs in one basket

Less likely or able to

compartmentalise sources of their

identity

Cannot buffer from emotional highs and lows

of sport

Highly identified with and

influenced by team

Over-reliance on sporting network for

support

Identifying oneself as an athlete is central

importance

• precipitate depression in athletes (4)

Injury, competitive failure, ageing, retirement from sport and other

psychosocial stressors

• hazardous drinking, driving while intoxicated and unprotected sex (5)

• Alcohol is a depressant and negative coping technique used by athletes

Risk-taking behaviours

Vulnerabilities to Mental Illness

PRESSURE OF LIFE BALANCEi.e. Student, work, relationships

↑ public recognition & ↑ public scrutiny

Role model status

•‘Homeostasis’ essential for performance and growth and repair. •Students pressures of exams, coursework, training and competing.•Recovery element of training compromised.•Additional teams to represent.•Athletes with a family, job, children, girlfriend etc. can find it hard to deal with the demands of intense training on top of everything else.•Self-pressure: high motivation and expectations

•Many athletes enjoy being recognised by the public BUT brings with it additional pressures. •Self-pressure to always be “the star” which is unrealistic when other factors like injury or illness are to be factored in.

•The pressure to be a role-model leaves it hard for athletes to make the mistakes their peers make without being under the scrutiny of fans, the media, coaches and managers. •Athletes who experience success very early in life can struggle with such a title.

↑Time constraintsPressure to perform by coaches

mental and physical demands in terms of intense training

Dealing with injury/ career termination

•Rest and recovery are essential components for athletic performance. • Coaches need to reinforce this to athletes. •Coaches also need to be aware when they are pushing for their own needs as opposed to the greater good of the athlete. •An athlete who feels understood and valued will ‘want to’ commit and make the sacrifices necessary for performance as opposed to feeling like they ’have to’ commit.

•Experience of injury compared to experiencing a bereavement. •Athletes struggle with a body that does not perform or operate to its normal capabilities. •Can become very isolated within the sports setting and their team, left out. •Athletes are tested and pushed when injured which serves to fuel the psychological trauma experienced

•An athlete needs to continually think of what they eat and drink, how much sleep they get and how they get themselves “into the zone” for optimal performance. •Physically striving to push the body.•Depression, body dysmorphia, anorexia and bulimia are just some of the documented conditions athletes suffer in trying to deal with the pressures that come with being a performer.

stigmatisation

denial

dichotomous paradigms of ‘‘psychological’’ versus ‘‘physical’’ disease

Current approach to mental illness in athletes

Inaccurate and unhelpful = deprives the athlete of effective care (6)

Common Mental Health Disorders

• feeling of fear we all experience when faced with threatening or difficult situations.

• Helps us to avoid dangerous situations• Makes us alert and motivates us to

deal with problems.

Anxiety

• A sudden unexpected surge of anxiety which makes you want to leave the worrying situation.Panic

• (e.g. Agoraphobia) are fears of a situation or thing that isn’t dangerous and which most people don’t find troublesome.

Phobias

Anxiety, panic and phobias:

When these feelings become too strong they can stop us from doing the things we want to.

• feeling bored and isolated• In an effort to find stimulation,

many people do things that are harmful to themselves (such as taking drugs) or society (for instance, committing a crime).

A lack of stress

means your body is under-

stimulated • Range of health problems

including headaches, stomach upsets, high blood pressure, stroke or heart disease.

• cause feelings of distrust, anger, anxiety and fear, which can destroy relationships at home and at work.

Too much stress

Stress becoming “distress”

Often the result of some event or trigger:

• Negative (such as the death of a loved one (acute), redundancy, divorce or relationship ended (chronic),

• Positive (a new partner, new job or going on holiday).

Stress

Negative stress-management techniques:

• Drinking alcohol, using drugs or smoking cigarettes.

• Denying the problem.• Overeating• Angry behaviour

Positive stress- management techniques:

• Take a power nap • Relaxation: massage,

meditation, yoga etc.• Express yourself

artistically/ creatively (e.g. acting, playing an instrument, writing poetry or singing.

• Have a laugh • Be gentle to yourself –

positive 'self-talk

Stress

• Genes - (trait anxiety).• Circumstances - (state anxiety) sometimes it's

obvious what is making you anxious. When the problem disappears, so does the anxiety. However, some extreme situations are so threatening that the anxiety goes on long after the event (PTSD).

• Drugs - recreational drugs like amphetamines, LSD or ecstasy can all make you anxious.

• Life experience - bad experiences in the past or big life-changes such as pregnancy, changing job, becoming unemployed or moving house.

Causes of anxiety, panic and phobias

• At least 2% of children under 12 struggle with significant depression

• By teenage years this has risen to 5% - i.e. at least one depressed child in every classroom.

• Simply appearing unhappy much of the time, feelings so extreme or persistent they get in the way of normal activities.

• Exhaustion• Headaches, stomach aches, tiredness and

other vague physical complaints that appear to have no obvious cause.

• Spending a lot of time in bed but sleeping badly and waking early in the morning.

• Doing badly at school or not coping with things that used to be manageable

• Major changes in weight.• Being unusually irritable, sulky or becoming

quiet and introverted.• Losing interest in favourite hobbies.• Having poor self-esteem or recurrent feelings of

worthlessness, hopelessness.• Contemplating suicide

Depression in children: symptoms

• Losing a loved one (or in children, a good friendship breaking up)

• Illness, stress, family problems (marital disharmony or breakup)

• Abuse• School problems (such as

bullying, exam fears).

Some children are more resilient to difficulties than others

• Genetics and family tendencies: may also explain susceptibility and why the levels of certain brain chemicals become abnormal in depression.

Depression is also a feature of many other illnesses and conditions.‘Organic' causes include:

• An underactive or overactive thyroid gland

• Vitamin B12 deficiency• Viral infections• Traumatic brain injury

Causes of depression

• Children less capable of expressing feelings = often react to their moods in a more physical way.

• Some are clearly sad, withdrawn and tearful, others may become hyperactive, troublesome bullies.

• Symptoms for longer than 3/4 weeks = GP.• Talk about suicide should always be taken

seriously = get expert advice.

Difficulties spotting it:

Bipolar (also known as manic depression) causes severe mood swings, that usually last several weeks or months and can be:

• Low mood, intense depression and despair.• High or ‘manic’ feelings of joy, over-

activity and loss of inhibitions.• A 'mixed state' such as a depressed mood

with the restlessness and over-activity of a manic episode.

Bipolar Disorder

• Genes.• There may be a physical problem with the brain systems

which control mood - so bipolar disorder can often be controlled with medication.

• Stress can trigger mood swings.

There are a number of types of bipolar disorder:• Bipolar I. There has been at least one high, or manic

episode, which lasts for longer than one week. You may have only manic episodes, although most people will also have periods of depression.

• Bipolar II. Where you have more than one episode of severe depression, but only mild manic episodes (called ‘hypomania’).

• Rapid cycling. You have had more than four mood swings happen over a 12 month period. This affects around one in ten people with the condition.

Causes of bipolar

Depression• Feelings of unhappiness that

won’t go away• Agitation and restlessness• Loss of confidence• Feeling useless, inadequate or

hopeless• Unable to think positively• Can't concentrate or make even

simple decisions• Loss of appetite• Sleeping problems including

waking early in the morning• Lack of interest in sex• Avoiding other people• Thoughts of suicide

Mania• General elation• Feeling more important than

usual• Full of energy or ideas; moving

quickly from one idea to another

• Unable, or don't want to sleep• More interested than usual in

sex• Making unrealistic plans• Overactive, talking quickly• Irritable with other people who

can't go along with your mood or ideas

• Spending money recklessly

Bipolar Symptoms

Psychotic symptomsIf a mood swing becomes very severe, you may have 'psychotic’ symptoms. These include:

• When depressed feeling guilty, worse than anybody else, or even that you don't exist.

• When manic, feeling you’re on an important mission or you have special powers or abilities.

• May also experience hallucinations - hear, smell, feel or see something that isn’t there.

Bipolar Symptoms

Causes• May be genetic or caused by a

chemical imbalance in the brain.

Who’s affected?

• At least 1% of the UK population. • More common in people with a

history of depression and/or social phobia.

• Often occurs with obsessive-compulsive disorder or generalised anxiety disorder.

• May also exist alongside an eating disorder.

• It usually starts in adolescence when people are most sensitive about their appearance.

Symptoms• Excessive worry about a part of their

body which they perceive to have a defect, despite reassurances about their appearance.

May:• Wear excessive make-up or heavy

clothing to hide their perceived defect• Repeatedly look in the mirror and seek

reassurance about their appearance• Frequently touch or measure the

perceived defect• Repeatedly pick at their skin or pluck

their hair and eyebrows• Feel anxious when around others• Diet and exercise excessively• Not be able to hold down a job and

sometimes avoid socialising. • Find it difficult to have relationships.

Body dysmorphia

Is a broad name for a number of problems we face with food in our society.

• Bulimia: comfort in feeling full but dreads taking on the extra calories. Induce vomiting, causing long-term problems for their throat and teeth on top of psychological problems.

Common behaviour of someone affected by an eating disorder includes:• Mentally keeping a balance between calories taken in and calories used up• Deep-seated feelings of anxiety if they consume a few calories too many• Self-loathing, depression or panic if they haven’t lost any weight or put a little on• Many anorexics and bulimics know the damage they are doing to themselves but are

still unable to stop. This increases feelings of despair and self-loathing, causing their condition to continue.

Eating disorders

Anorexia and bulimia

Deep fear of being

overweight

Obsession with

restricting calories

Starvation affecting

body functions

and hormones

• Evidence that eating disorders can run in families.• Socially:

- Images of physical perfection- Encouragement to eat foods packed with calories made up of saturated fat and simple carbohydrates.

Psychologically, at the root of an eating disorder:• Distorted body image• Low self-esteem• Anxiety for some control• An expression of deep emotions such as depression or

trauma that can’t be put into words

Causes of eating disorders

Causes• Getting

diagnosed with a serious illness.

• Having (or seeing) a serious road accident.

• The unexpected injury or violent death of someone close.

• Continuing physical or sexual abuse.

• Conflict or war experiences

Symptoms of PTSD• Usually start within six months, and sometimes only a few

weeks after the trauma.• After the traumatic event you can feel grief-stricken,

depressed, anxious, guilty and angry.

May also:• Have flashbacks and nightmares, reliving the event in your

mind, again and again (forced to think about what happened and decide what to do if it happens again)

• Avoid thinking and feeling upset about it by keeping busy and avoiding anything or anyone that reminds you (helps you not to become exhausted from remembering a trauma)

• Be ‘on guard’ – you stay alert all the time, can’t relax, feel anxious and can’t sleep (helps react quickly to another crisis).

• Vivid memories = adrenaline levels high = feel tense, irritable, unable to relax or sleep

• Feel physical symptoms – aches and pains, diarrhoea, irregular heartbeats, headaches, feelings of panic and fear, depression.

• Start drinking too much alcohol or using drugs (including painkillers).

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

• Schizophrenia is a disorder which affects thinking, feeling and behaviour. It usually starts between the ages of 15 to 35 and affects about 1 in every 100 people during their lifetime.

Causes• Aren’t known for sure. It’s likely that several different factors

may have an affect:• Genetic links - one in ten people with schizophrenia has a

parent with the condition.• Damage to the brain during pregnancy or birth.• Use of recreational drugs, including ecstasy, LSD,

amphetamines (speed), cannabis and crack.• Stress.

Schizophrenia

“Positive” (represent a change in behaviour, or thoughts ):

• Delusions - believing something completely even though others find your ideas strange and can't work out how you've come to believe them.

• Difficulty thinking – finding it hard to concentrate, drifting from one idea to another.

• Feeling controlled – feeling as though your thoughts are vanishing, that they‘re not your own, or that your body is being taken over and controlled by someone else.

• Hallucinations - hearing, smelling, feeling or seeing something that isn’t there. Hearing voices is the most common problem. The voices can seem utterly real., they are more often rude, critical, abusive or annoying.

“Negative” (represent loss of normal thoughts, feelings or actions)

• Loss of interest, energy and emotions. You don't bother to get up or go out of the house. You don't get round to routine jobs like washing, tidying, or looking after your clothes. You feel uncomfortable with other people.

• Some people hear voices without negative symptoms. Others have delusions but few other problems.

Schizophrenia symptoms

It’s thought 1 in 10 people has some form of personality disorder.

You may have a personality disorder if:• Parts of your personality make it hard for you to live with

yourself and other people• Experience doesn’t teach you how to change the unhelpful

parts of yourself• You find it hard to make or keep relationships• You find it hard to control your feelings or behaviour• You find that you upset or harm other people because you’re

distressed• Some evidence that, similar to other mental disorders, genes,

brain problems and background can play a part.

Personality disorder

Suspicious: • Paranoid, suspicious of

other people, sensitive to rejection, tendency to hold grudges.

• Schizoid (unable to make contact with other people, preferring your own company and developing a rich fantasy world).

• Schizotypal (have odd ideas and difficulties with thinking, see n as eccentric and you may see or hear strange things).

Emotional and impulsive• Antisocial (don't care about other

people’s feelings, get easily frustrated and aggressive, find it difficult to develop close relationships, do things on the spur of the moment without feeling guilty and unable to learn from unpleasant experiences).

• Emotionally unstable (do things without thinking and find it hard to control emotions, may feel empty inside or so bad they self-harm. Make relationships quickly, but easily lose them. Can also feel paranoid or depressed and may hear noises or voices.

• Histrionic (are self-centered and over-dramatise events, emotions are strong, but change quickly, worry a lot about appearance and crave excitement).

• Narcissistic (crave success, power and status, seek attention and tend to exploit others for self gain).

Personality disorder: 3 sub-groups

Anxious• Obsessive-compulsive (perfectionist,

worrying about the detail in everything, cautious, find it hard to make decisions, have high moral standards, worry about doing the wrong thing and judging other people, sensitive to criticism and may have obsessional thoughts and behaviours).

• Avoidant (very anxious and tense, worrying about insecurities, feel inferior and want to be accepted, sensitive to criticism).

• Dependent (rely on others to make decisions and do what others want to do, find it hard to cope with daily tasks, feeling hopeless and incompetent and easily feel abandoned by others).

Personality disorder

• Approx 1 million people/year• Around 6,000 in the UK and Ireland.• Number of young men committing suicide has increased over the

past couple of decades• Women may be better at expressing and dealing with their

distress. • Current social, financial and economic issues have put more

pressure on men.

Suicide

• There’s rarely one single trigger, although there may be an important 'last straw'.

• Genetic predisposition, personality trait or lack of support. • A long history of mental health problems, the main ones being

depression, eating disorders and schizophrenia. • Relationship problems• Other factors include physical illness (acute and chronic),

alcohol and drug, social isolation, housing, money and job problems.

• The final straw may be the end of an important relationship, having to face up to debt or a court case, losing one’s home or job, or simply an event that stirs the emotions.

Factors leading to suicide

• Symptoms which may be due to depression include moodiness, irritability, poor concentration, tearfulness and being withdrawn. Loneliness, guilt and self-hatred can lead to a feeling of hopelessness and despair.

• Changes in appearance, hygiene or health. • More tired, have sleep problems, poor appetite and have

lost interest in their usual hobbies.• Children often feel isolated, afraid of talking to their

family or friends and often don’t know who to turn to. • Young children especially may find it hard to put into

words how they feel but instead act out their emotions in a way that their family may not understand.

Suicidal feelings in children and teenagers

• They may have family problems – parents separating or who have problems of their own such as money problems which the child feels, inappropriately guilty about. Death of a grandparent or other family member, neglect, abuse, isolation, bullying and physical illness are all frequent triggers to teenage depression and suicide.

• Drug and alcohol use are increasingly common in teenagers and also play a part in the development of depression and altered behaviour which can lead to a suicide attempt.

• There were 1,722 adolescent and juvenile deaths by suicide in the UK between 1997 and 2003, almost all were young people were aged 15-19, three-quarters were male and overall, the most common methods of suicide were hanging, followed by self-poisoning.

• Younger women are more likely to resort to deliberate self-harm and attempted suicide, rather than suicide itself.

Suicidal feelings in children and teenagers

• Talking therapies (group therapy, counselling or psychotherapy which helps remember events, make sense of them and move on)

• Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) helps to think differently about your memories, so that they become less distressing and more manageable. It involves relaxation to help you tolerate the discomfort of recalling the traumatic events.

• Eye movement desensitisation & reprocessing (EMDR, PTSD) - uses eye movements to help the brain to process flashbacks and to make sense of the traumatic experience.

• Essential to help them understand, how they can deal with the underlying problems in their life and how they can develop a more positive view of their world.

• Like adults, children with depression can't just 'snap out of it' or 'pull themselves together'.

• Children usually respond fairly quickly to treatment. Antidepressants are rarely needed. Most children can be treated at home or as a hospital outpatient, so rarely need to stay in hospital.

• Medication

Treatments

• Stigma: perceived as being weak (males), leads to those working with athletes not referring them to a mental health professional, embarrassment, media impact

• Worry about what others will think (coach, teammates and family/ friends)

• Lack of mental health literacy (not knowing about mental health disorders or what the symptoms are or when/ where to seek help)

• GP relationship• Lack of self-recognition (others recognising it before them)• Negative past experiences of help-seeking (problem

relating to the provider or breech of confidentiality)• Time constraints (no money or transport)

Barriers to mental health help-seeking in young elite athletes (Gulliver, Griffiths & Christensen; 2012)

• Having an established relationship with a provider (already knowing a counsellor or doctor)

• Being aware of your feelings and being able to express them, emotional competence

• Encouragement from others• Positive attitudes of others (especially coach,

family and friends)• Pleasant previous experiences• Access to internet and online mental health

services.

Facilitators to mental health help-seeking in young elite athletes (Gulliver, Griffiths & Christensen; 2012)

• You are NOT a mental health expertBut• You are in a position of trust• You may be that ONE person who a

young person opens up toYour role is to:ALGEE

YOUR ROLE

• Assess for risk of suicide or harm• Listen non-judgmentally• Give reassurance and information• Encourage appropriate professional

help• Encourage self-help and other support

strategiesGP is the gate keeper to all Mental health services

ALGEE

• Mood Gym moodgym.anu.edu.au/• Beating the blues

Online resources

• Feel the Fear and Do it anyway: How to turn your fear and indecision into confidence and action (Susan Jeffers, CD AND BOOK)

• The Power of Positive Thinking (Norman Vincent Peale, CD and book)

• Yoga Conditioning For Athletes [DVD] Rodney Yee• 3 of I Can Do It: How To Use Affirmations To Change Your Life

(Louise L. Hay, Joan Perrin-Falquet)• How to lift depression ...Fast (The Human Givens Approach) (Joe

Griffin, Ivan Tyrrell)• Overcoming Anxiety (Helen Kennerley)• I Can't Stop Crying: It's So Hard When Someone You Love Dies

(John D. Martin, Frank D. Ferris)• Dealing with depression: Trusting God through the Dark Times.

(Sarah Collins & Jayne Haynes)

Other Resources

1 Ljungqvist A, Jenoure P, Engebretsen L, Alonso JM, Bahr R, Clough A, et al. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) consensus statement on periodic health evaluation of elite athletes (March 2009). Br J Sports Med 2009; 43:631–43).

2 Cresswell SL, Eklund RC. Athlete burnout: a longitudinal qualitative investigation. Sport Psychol 2007; 21: 1–20.3 Peluso M, deAndrade LH. Physical activity and mental health: the association between exercise and mood. Clinics 2005;

60: 61–70).4 Reardon CL, Factor RM. Sport psychiatry: a systematic review of diagnosis

and medical treatment of mental illness in athletes. Sports Med 2010; 40:961–80).

5 Sundgot-Borgen J, Torstveit MK. Aspects of disordered eating continuum in elite high-intensity sports. Scand J Med Sci Sports 2010; 20: 112–21.

6 Schwenk TL. The stigmatisation and denial of mental illness in athletes. Br J Sports Med 2000; 34: 4–5.7 Devitt BM, McCarthy C. Review: ‘I am in blood Stepp’d in so far . . .’: ethical dilemmas and the sports team doctor. Br J

Sports Med 2010; 44: 175–8.8 Lisha NE, Sussman S. Relationship of high school and college sports participation with alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug

use: a review. Addict Behav 2010; 35: 399–407).9 Gulliver, Griffiths & Christensen. Barriers and facilitators to mental health help-seeking for young elite athletes: a

qualitative study. BMC Psychiatry, 2012; 12: 15710 Corrado D, Basso C, Rizzoli G, Schiavon M, Thiene G. Does sports activity enhance the risk of sudden death in

adolescents and young adults? J Am Coll Cardiol 2003;42:1959–196311 Hughes L, and Leavey, G. Setting the bar: athletes and vulnerability to mental illness. British Journal of Psychiatry 2012;

200: 95-96.

Academic Sources

Safeguarding: promoting the ‘Code’

KATHRYN ANDERSON - 2013 Oifigeach Leanaí

What is Safeguarding?

It may be defined as Doing everything Possible to minimise the risk of harm to children and young people.

GAA Clubs have a Duty of Care and should aim to proactively safeguard and promote the welfare of children so that the need for action to protect children from harm is reduced.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Voluntary organisations and individual volunteers have a duty of care to each other and others who may be affected by their activities. • Civil law and the duty of careThere is first and foremost a moral obligation on anyone who is involved with children to provide them with the highest possible standard of care. There is secondly a legal responsibility, under the common law Duty of Care, for all organisations to take reasonable steps to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the children in their care.

4 Essential Steps to Being a Safe Club

1. Appoint suitable Children’s Officer and Designated Person

2. Promote the ‘Code’3. ACCESS NI compliant /Safe recruitment and management of volunteers4. Child Protection Awareness training

1. Appoint a Children’s Officer

Official Guide - Part 1Appendix 4

Club Constitution and Rules7.1 The Executive Committee shall be comprised of the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, Treasurer, Secretary, Registrar, Officer for Irish Language and Culture, Public Relations Officer, Children’s Officer, one Players’ Representative, and at least five other Full members.

Responding to Concerns

• Poor Practice /Breach of the ‘Code’internal matter

• Allegation / suspicion of abuseexternal and internal matter

2. Promote the Sport specific guidance in the “Code”

• 1. Principles: To promote a child centred approach

• 2. People: To maintain an enjoyable and safe environment

• 3. Policy & procedures: To facilitate and encourage best practice

• 4. Practice: To create a framework for good practice, to protect children and their leaders

• 5. Protection: To eliminate negative practices to ensure safe and enjoyable participation in children's sport

Code of Behaviour

• Young Players• Coaches, Mentors and Trainers• Parents / Guardians• Supporters• Referees• The Club / CountyFair play, Respect, Equality, SafetyNo Discrimination

GAA Tackling Bullying

3. Recruitment and management of volunteers

• It is through the good management of volunteers that your Club can be most effective in protecting children.

• You cannot rely on the fact that a person is known to an existing volunteer as evidence that they are not a potential abuser.

Compliance

All volunteers working with children and young people must complete Access NI Ensuring your Club is a safe Club

Safeguarding Children & Young People In the GAA

Kathryn Anderson – 2013Oifeigeach Leaneí

Step 4

Tyrone County• Prioritise Children’s needs• Promote the development of

leadership skills in our youth• Promote initiatives that

support our young peoples development e.g.

Forming partnerships (PHA) to support young peoples mental healthPromote the GAA Tackling Bullying national campaign.

Making safeguarding information accessible to your Club

Mental Emotional Wellbeing &

Sport

Role of the Gatekeepers

Brendan BonnerPublic Health Agency

PHA Training Plan

PHA Intervention Model

Appropriate & accessible

services

BuildingCapacity &Resilience

Awareness

&Education

Early recognition

of signs &

symptoms

Crisis Response

and Postvention

Using & Building the

Evidence &

Test new ways if

evidence doesn’t exist

Coordination

Sharing good

practice

79

Gatekeepers

80

Safety Net

81

Tier 1 - Basic Awareness Training

Mental Health Awareness

Resilience Training e.g Bounce; B+

SuicideTALK

Tier 2 Knowledge and Skills Training

Mental Health First Aid

SafeTALK

Understanding Self Harm

Tier 3 – Intervention Training

Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)

STORM (Skills based Training On Risk Management) delivered by BMC

Tier 4 – Training for Trainers (T4T) Regional Approach

Mental Health First Aid

safeTALK

86

Target Groups GPs & Primary Care staff Accident & Emergency staff Relevant Managers (HSC

frontline sector) HR Personnel (HSC sector) Accredited sports coaches Those working with survivors

of abuse Community Gatekeepers Church (religious/faith

leaders)

Key influencers of young people e.g. teachers, youth-workers

Those who work with people who have mental health difficulties

PSNI custody officers Frontline prison staff with

‘inmate listeners’ (cross-ref to PHA Prison Thematic Plan)

87

Remember there is HELP out there

88

Sport can be Supportive & Fun

89

Club Structures

• Stephen McHugh – County Youth Chairperson

Chairperson

Secretary

Vice Chairperson

Committee

Treasurer

Childrens Officer

Youth Chairperson

PRO

Coaching Officer

Youth Managers

Schools Liason

Schools Liaison Officer

Increasingly, the role of Club/School Liaison officer and the Club/school link is becoming one of the key roles in helping to develop Gaelic Games in the Club. All clubs should ensure that there is a Club/school link in operation in order to promote the games in the local schools.

School Liaison Officer for Tyrone GAA Adrian Nugent Contact: Schoolsliaisonofficer.tyrone@gaa.ie

How to develop Self-Empowerment

in young players

Brendan Harpur

Format of Presentation

• Empowerment versus “Self Doubt”• Developmental stages of the young player• Influence of the Coach• Some guidelines for coaches

Self Belief versus Self Doubt

VERSUS

Self Doubt• I am no good at this• I might make a mistake• I’ll never learn• I must be stupid• I might get it wrong• I am scared• What will others think• I could never do that

Definition of Empowerment

Empowerment is a description of a continuous learning process where an individual deals appropriately with any situation in the following manner:

• Decides to make him/herself aware of their capabilities (skill, knowledge and attitudes) and what is appropriate in any situation they encounter.

• Decides to be aware if their response was appropriate.• Decides what they need to learn from this experience.• Decides to action their decision to learn.• Implements the action.• Decides to be aware of what they are learning and how they are learning

it. • An individual who increasingly decides to go through this learning

process is in my opinion a ‘personally empowered person.’

Stages of Development• 4-6• Just coming out of the stage ‘I can do it all myself’. Difference can be

between race, gender with awareness and acceptance. Sibling rivalry is strong. Thinking is concrete, magical, timeless,

• 6-10• Here there is increase in thinking for themselves and adjusting to groups,

a rapid acquisition of skills, i.e.’ the golden age of learning’ More open to a sense of a need to learn

• 10-12/13• Surge in confidence. Can move into love/hate situations black and white

world. A mixture of rivalry and identification with parents. Not sure of identity despite protests to contrary. Embarrassment more accurately fits.

Children Need• Stimulation

– The stimulation they get from T.V., play stations, coke and crisps is short lived and useless. They need to engage with their environment with their friends, they need to participate.

• Attention– Every child needs the attention to become mature healthy adults They need to hear their

name, and get positive feedback after their effort. Attention needs to be personal and genuine.

• Competition– Once a skill is learned, it must be tested. Children need competition but not on adult

form. Small sided games, first to ten, how many in a minute, first to 7 in a row etc. Competition must always be fair.

• Studies from America show that only 3 out of every 10 are having these needs met. They are not getting the nurturing attention that they need to grow into mature adults.

• Children need a coach who will give them proper nurturing attention at every training session.

Self Image – Self Concept• A child’s mind is full of questions. • The greatest of these is ‘Who am I’, ‘What kind of person am I’

and ‘Where do I fit in?’• Because of this, the child’s mind is remarkably affected by

statements for others that begin with ‘You are’ • For one it is ‘you are so good at...’ for another ‘you are so lazy

and useless’. • These statements from ‘big’ people go straight into the child’s

unconsciousness. • From there, they affect the persons self image for the rest of

their lives.• Adults are hypnotising children from the earliest age, so we

better do it well.

‘The Dog Whisperer’ Ceasar Milan• Dogs and children pick up on the energy of their adults and their

behaviour reflects the adults state of mind. • His aim is that the dog should be happy. For this to happen the owner

must be calm and assertive. • When the coach is calm it brings a positive energy that children like and

want to be near. • When the coach is calm and assertive they becomes the leader of the

pack. The pack feel a warm welcoming energy that relaxes them. They accept the leader because of their assertiveness. i.e. they know what to do they will meet the needs of the children (stimulation, attention, competition)

• They will be organised, the task will match the ability of the children it will be exciting and energising. The children will learn because the sessions are framed to achieve stimulation, attention, competition

Ceasar’s three golden rules:

• Rules• Boundaries• Limitations• When the children understand these and have them agreed and

signed by their parents /guardians they will feel secure and safe. • The coach must train to be CALM & ASSERTIVE, a difficult

combination. • The coach’s main aim is create happy lively alert players/ children • Demands a lot of an adult and can trigger any weakness in their

personality, • To be leader then you must make whatever changes are necessary.

Mind your language!!!!!

Which of the following statements is most likely to result in you sponsoring me for £5 to support my GAA

Club?

Sponsor me £5 to support my GAA Club

• I want £5 sponsorship towards my club• I would like you to sponsor me for £5• I need you to sponsor me £5• I would appreciate it if you sponsored me £5• You must sponsor me for £5• I am telling you to sponsor me the £5• Would you consider sponsoring me for £5• You are expected to sponsor me for £5

•I want --------•I would like you to -------•I need you to ----------•I would appreciate it if you ------•You must ----------•I am telling you to --------------•Would you consider ----------•You are expected to --------------

“It’s the way I tell them!”• Positive wording makes competent children. • Mostly we have inherited a negative way of giving commands.

Father to a 9 year old son with a jug of milk full to the brim“Whatever you do don’t spill the milk”

• Coaches should think first and understand what outcome they want and find the words most likely to cause that to happen.

• “Good man Stephen, steady now, take your time I’ll move the chair out of the way”

• Saying what we don’t want done is not going to be effective.

A Few Examples

• Of course the coach sees some children Drop the ball or Over carry• But never ever uses words like ‘drop’ ‘over

carry’ because that goes straight to the unconscious as a command.

• “Avoid using the word DON’T”

“Say what you want them to do”

• ‘Great Catch’, ‘Try again’, ‘use your fingers’, ‘eye on the ball’, ‘jump towards the ball’,

• To raise motivation ‘what a catch’, ‘wow’, ‘brilliant’, ’10 in a row’, ‘look at that’ with an exciting tone, ‘I knew you’d do it’

• It takes 20 positives to undo the damage done by one negative. That’s part of being human.

Effective Coaches

• Only tell players things they have no way of discovering it for themselves.

• Do more “Asking than Telling”• Reinforce the positive• “Catch players doing things right”• Make learning a “FUN” experience

• You are what you believe you are. If you believe you are a good footballer /hurler you will act that way.

• If you believe you are not a good footballer/hurler you will also act that way.

• If you believe you are good at some aspect of your game you will be confident in doing it.

• If you believe you are weak at some aspect of your game you will lack confidence and when you make a mistake this will tend to re- enforce your belief that you are not good at something.

• Therefore what you think and believe affects your performance!!!!

You will be the footballer/hurler you think you are!!!! So think positively !!!!

Counter Negative Self Talk

• “It’s not like me to make a mistake like that”• What did you do well?• What’s the best game you ever played?

Coaching Real Winners

• ‘De-emphasize winning and re-emphasize attaining personal goals.

• This principle is the key to meeting a player’s needs to feel worthy—not only to maintain their self-worth but also to develop it further.

• This principle is essential in enhancing the motivation of your players.’

Top Basketball coaches in the U.S.A use 25 positive

reinforcements to one area requiring improvement!!!

Empowering Statements• I am proud of my past achievements and I am confident about

my future performance.• I take control of a game• I maintain the maximum work rate during matches and in

training.• I am effective at tackling and dispossessing an opponent.• I bring other players into the game• I am very skilful at taking my opponent on• I am an accurate passer of the ball.• I am a Team Player• I am very effective in winning the ball• I am accurate at taking scores either from play or from frees.

Any questions?

Summary

• Develop Self Belief in players• Children need Rules, Attention and Competition• Communicate to players what you want them to

do.• Its how you tell them• Coaching is more about “Asking” Than Telling• Use positive and empowering statements• Encourage young players to use positive and

empowering statements about themselves

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION