Case Studies

As part of our partnership with SportsAid and to support World Mental Health Day on the 10th October, BelievePerform hosted a mental fitness session for the royals where we explored different ways in which people can build their resilience recipe. After the session Their Royal Highnesses took part in netball & goalball, and were given an opportunity to practise skills such as mindfulness and imagery to understand how wellbeing can boost performance.

The above was part of a larger project with SportsAid where BelievePerform have developed an engaging, digestible, self-reflecting programme which sparks interest and gives athletes the tools to be able to develop their mind health. The programme seeks to empower athletes and give them the opportunity to practice mind skills that allow them to thrive in life and sport.

Built around evidence-based core pillars. The mind health programme provides videos, tools and infographics that give the opportunity for athletes to take a proactive approach in developing their mind. The programme will incorporate 6 sections. Resilience, Challenge response, Healthy comparison, Confidence, Performance anxiety and Identity. To make the programme as relevant as possible, videos of SportsAid ambassadors discussing their own experiences of the above topics have been included to ensure maximum impact and relatability.

The programme is timely as recent research from the British Medical Journal, “Starting young to protect elite athletes’ mental health” (Purcell R, Henderson J, Tamminen KA, et al. Br J Sports Med 2023;57:439–440 indicates that mental ill health is a health condition that affects young people globally, 58% of mental disorders in adolescents go undetected and untreated. As SportsAid work directly with young athletes it is of particular interest that young elite athletes are highlighted as being a group who are critically under-researched.

Overall, the aim of the programme is developing young people with the skills to be able to go and thrive mentally whatever the conditions they find themselves in, this could be in sport, at school or at home.

The Birmingham Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme was a great collaborative project which aimed at bridging the holiday experience gap for children from low-income households in England. Children in such households often face challenges like social isolation, limited access to organised out-of-school activities, and unhealthy holidays impacting their nutrition, mental, and physical health. To address these issues, In 2023 we were asked to build and deliver a “Train the Trainer” mental health resilience and life-skills program for teachers. The goal was to empower teachers to deliver a life skills online module focused on developing young learners’ resilience and life skills using animated videos, tools, and resources.

We implemented the above by:

1. Train the Trainer Program: BelievePerform organised workshops and training sessions for teachers participating in the Birmingham HAF programme. These workshops equipped teachers with the necessary knowledge, skills, and resources to effectively deliver the mental health resilience module to young learners.
2. Life Skills Online Module: The life skills online module designed by BelievePerform incorporated animated videos, tools for proactive practice and infographics for young learners. It covered various aspects of resilience and mental well-being, encouraging children to develop their unique “resilience recipe” by identifying strengths and coping mechanisms.
3. Hexaflex Integration: The mental health wellbeing hexaflex was integrated into the online module to provide a holistic framework for understanding and enhancing mental health resilience. The hexaflex encouraged learners to explore different dimensions of their well-being and provided practical strategies for positive change.

Results: The implementation of BelievePerform’s mental health resilience program led to the following positive outcomes:

1. Increased Teacher Confidence: Teachers feeling more confident and empowered to address mental health and resilience-related topics with their students. They appreciated the comprehensive training and resources provided by BelievePerform.
2. Enhanced Learner Resilience: Young learners were given the opportunity  to practice their new found skills and tools in a safe sapce. The combination of animated videos and practical tools made the learning experience enjoyable and effective.
3. Positive Impact on Mental Well-being: The incorporation of the mental health wellbeing hexaflex encouraged learners to take meaningful actions in various aspects of their lives.
4. Long-term Benefits: The skills and knowledge imparted to teachers through the “Train the Trainer” program had a lasting impact beyond the holiday period. Teachers had the opportunity to incorporate resilience-building activities in their regular curriculum, benefiting students year-round.

In 2021 we worked with a multinational financial technology company to support their people leaders and employees with a view to creating greater engagement and a reduction in attrition. As part of the programme we supported people leaders with skills and resources to help them better contribute to driving a culture of wellbeing. This focused on the theme of performance readiness and resilience. To support employees we implemented a short programme that helped them build the core skills around resilience. This focused on helping them to build their physical, mental and social resources so that they were better equipped to cope with the conditions of their changing environment.

In January 2023 we rolled out a large scale programme for 6 colleges across Wales to support senior leaders and staff. To develop this programme we worked closely with the 6 colleges throughout 2022 to understand their picture of success and agree outcomes for the project we were looking to deliver. As part of the programme our focus was on ensuring that senior leaders within the college understood their role and responsibilities towards contributing to a mentally healthy culture.

The programme consisted of 3 core elements:

1. Working with senior leaders to help them drive a culture of wellbeing – This focused on working with a small group of senior leaders from each college to help them understand how they can build resilience and fulfil both human and organisational needs.
2. Trauma informed lens – A large part of the project focused on supporting staff within the colleges to understand how better to support staff and students who have experienced stress and trauma. This part of the project was implemented through a train the trainer style delivery and was supported by videos, infographics and practical tools
3. Social skills – We developed an engaging learning curriculum (consisting of videos, infographics & tools) for all students across the 6 colleges to ensure that they were equipped with the appropriate skills to build social awareness, emotional intelligence and resilience.

In 2022 we played a key part in delivering on the SportsAid Team England Futures Programmes. This was an innovative, experiential and educational programme designed to better prepare athletes to deliver medal-winning performances as Team England, Team GB or ParalympicsGB debutants at future Games, while also giving support staff an insight into the opportunities they could be presented with, and challenges they may face, at major competitions.

As part of the programme we focused on ensuring that young athletes and support staff were equipped with the knowledge and resources to help them be more ready to cope with the demands of future competition. This included delivering sessions focused on the theme of readiness and resilience to young athletes. Staff were also provided with downloadable resources in the format of a learning curriculum to help build their knowledge around the topics of mental fitness.

During the experience we had the privilege for our performance director Chris Shambrook to deliver a short session to athletes and the Duchess of Cambridge who is a patron of SportsAid

Over the last 3 years we have supported a UK based law firm to help move their wellbeing agenda from beyond awareness and into action. As part of the programme we worked with over 150 wellbeing champions who were trained in mental health first aid. The programme was designed to support champions in a supervisory format to increase their knowledge of mental health and learn practical and applied ways in which they could contribute to support their teams and drive a culture of wellbeing.

The programme included educational learning as well as reflective sessions which provided individuals with an opportunity to engage in self practise and self reflection. Champions were up skilled in specific areas of wellbeing and psychology specifically focusing on how they could meet the human needs of the people they work with. As part of the programme all champions were provided access with a range of resources (videos, infographics & tools) to support their development and learning.