_**SPORTS Mental Health NI NI Charity Reg 108221 Suicide Prevention Offering Recovery Through Sport**_ ## _**Trustees Annual Report (incorporating the Directors Report) Year ended March 2023**_ The Trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, present their report and the unaudited financial statements of the charity for the year ending March 2023 ## **Structure Governance and Management** The charity is a company limited by guarantee with charitable status granted by HM Revenue and Customs. The company is registered with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland under membership number NIC108221. It is managed by a board of Directors (or Trustees) who are listed below. All Trustees are volunteers and there are no paid employees of the charity. _TJ Young Alan Robinson Christopher Scott Dean Gordon Tricia McKee Ryan Rice_ **Introduction:** As trustees of SPORTS Mental Health NI, we are pleased to present our annual report for the financial year ending 31[st] March 2023. This report aims to provide our stakeholders with an overview of the charity's activities, achievements, financial performance, and future outlook. **Vision and Objectives:** SPORTS Mental Health NI are committed to empowering sports clubs to promote mental health and well-being amongst their members and communities. ## We do this through: 1. Mental Health & Suicide Awareness 2. Personal & Community Development. 3. Accessing Support **Activities and Achievements:** During the past year, SPORTS Mental Health NI has made significant strides in fulfilling on its objectives. Some key highlights included. - **Mental Health Awareness Campaigns.** We have managed to do a lot of magnificent work during this year as regards raising awareness. We have continued to promote our work around clubs by delivering mental health awareness sessions to clubs and provide banners and signage to be displayed at their sports clubs. _**SPORTS Mental Health NI NI Charity Reg 108221 Suicide Prevention Offering Recovery Through Sport**_ We held a 2011 Youth Football Tournament to highlight Mental Health Awareness Week in May 2022 involving local clubs, Bangor Swifts, Abbey Villa, Bangor Young Men, Portavogie FC, Bangor Fc and Ards Rangers. On the lead up to the tournament we partnered up with another Mental Health Charity known as Codo Drops. Codo Drops use art as their means of promoting mental health. So Chris McGuiggan the Director of Codo Drops and a few kids from each of the football clubs embarked on a project by painting a mural for our friends at Bangor FC. This mural proudly sits in the supporters stand at Clandeboye Park home of Bangor FC where the message behind it was “We Care You Matter”. We delivered a similar project with Codo Drops at Ards Rugby Club where we involved the youth players at the club to paint a mural to depict a mental health message for their members. The catchy slogan they used was “Don’t Just Scrum – Talk To Your Chum” and this went down very well with all involved at the club. We also held a Mental Health Awareness Day Charity Rugby match at Ards Rugby Club in memory of a young team member who sadly died from suicide the year previously. Finally late in 2022 we delivered on another monstrous project with Codo Drops and other professional artists on the perimeter fence of Bangor Amateurs Football Club to highlight their commitment to promoting positive mental health. We held a fundraising football match as well as received kind donations to deliver on this project which has left a legacy that can be seen by thousands each and every day as they commute along the Clandeboye Road in Bangor The signage clearly identifying their club premises to that of their neighbouring football club but the vital logos and contact details for the suicide charity Lifeline is what this project was all about. It is hoped that by having the contact details clearly visual to all those who pass that it could inevitably save _**SPORTS Mental Health NI NI Charity Reg 108221 Suicide Prevention Offering Recovery Through Sport**_ lives. Another means of promoting our charity and also to help raising awareness was by purchasing promotional badges with out logo on them. We would hope by more people knowing about our charity and identifying the work we do can only but benefit us in the long term Finally Alan Robinson does fantastic work each and every day on our Social media platforms by continuing to do daily posts that have had so much positive feedback and response. Alan shares the most up to date news on Mental health issues and promotes the great work of our partners and other mental health charities. Our website could be doing with being updated with more up to date material and information to promote our charity. - **Mental Health & Suicide Awareness Training – MHFA & Awareness Sessions** One of our overall objectives for clubs are that at least 2 members of each sports club should complete the Mental Health First Aid Course (MHFA). We managed to selffund and provided a qualified Mental Health trainer, Andrea Kearns to deliver two MHFA courses during this financial year. This course involved representatives from numerous sports clubs across the Ards and North Down Borough. On completion of the 12hr Mental Health First Aid course this will hopefully give the participants a leading role within their club to know how to manage mental health, promote greater understanding of the importance of mental health and play a significant part in ending stigma and discrimination around mental health. So for us to be able to deliver two course this year shows the commitment shown by our charity to deliver invaluable mental health training free of charge to clubs. Andrea also delivered mental health and suicide awareness sessions to others clubs during the year. _**SPORTS Mental Health NI NI Charity Reg 108221**_ _**Suicide Prevention Offering Recovery Through Sport**_ We as a charity have taken the decision to Fund our own bespoke Mental Health Awareness Training. This will allow us as a charity to deliver our own training and in the long term save us on expenses. Andrea Kearns has been tasked with putting together this programme on our behalf and to Train us on how to deliver it. - **Counselling and Therapy:** Through our network of licensed therapists and counsellors, we offered counselling sessions to individuals facing mental health challenges, ensuring access to quality care regardless of financial constraints. We managed to fund over 100 counselling sessions that were referred to us from as many as 15 different separate sports club members. These figures demonstrate the demand for such services, that we know that the NHS are struggling to cope with, but they also highlight and justifies the reasons why we have run this charity. **Financial Performance:** Financial transparency and accountability are core principles of SPORTS Mental Health NI. We are pleased to report that our financial performance remained strong during the fiscal year. Key financial highlights include: 1. **Total Expenditure** Total funds generated during the financial year, including donations, grants, and fundraising events. 2. **Program Expenses:** The majority of our funds spent were deemed to be value for money based on our intentions to delivery on our overall objectives to raise awareness of Mental Health & Suicide Awareness. The decision to purchase the materials for the art projects and visual signage by the charity was deemed to be a good use of our financial budget given the expectation that the funds raised at the actual events would be recouped back but more importantly allow us to deliver on our overall objective on Mental Health Awareness. 3. **Administrative Costs:** Administrative expenses were kept to a minimum. A decision was made to purchase an additional laptop so that Tricia as secretary can make use of it for charitable work. This has not yet been purchased. Printing Costs for materials have been the biggest cost to the charity. **Future Outlook** : Looking ahead SPORTS Mental Health NI remains committed to expanding its reach and impact in the field of mental health. We will continue to prioritise the following areas: ## _**SPORTS Mental Health NI NI Charity Reg 108221**_ ## _**Suicide Prevention Offering Recovery Through Sport**_ 1. Increase our Membership – Sports Clubs. We aim to do a promotional drive to encourage further engagement with sports clubs. 2. Partnerships and Collaborations: Strengthening partnerships with local organisations, mental health professionals, and community leaders will be essential to enhance the effectiveness of raising funds and delivering on our overall objectives. 3. Mental Health Training: Continue to deliver as many Mental Health and Suicide Awareness training sessions to as many clubs as possible during the next year. ## **Conclusion:** In conclusion, we extend our sincere gratitude to those who have contributed to our successes this year. We want to thank all those sports clubs who got involved with the delivery of our projects this year. Special thanks to Chris McGuiggan of Codo Drops and Andrea Kearns who delivered on our Mental health training programmes. Their work has been invaluable this year. We want to thank those who have made donations and volunteered their services to us in any capacity this year. Thank you to the trustees for their unwavering support and dedication to SPORTS Mental Health NI and delivering on our overall objectives. Together, we will continue to make a positive impact in the lives of those affected by mental health challenges. The trustees annual report was approved on 19[th] February 2024 and signed off on behalf of the board of Trustees by : ____________________ ____________________ **T.J. Young Chairman** SPORTS Mental Health NI Suicide Prevention Offering Recovery Through Sport **Tricia McKee Secretary** SPORTS Mental Health NI Suicide Prevention Offering Recovery Through Sport