Welcome to Gold Coast United FC Community Wellness Blog
The purpose of this blog is to support the Club Community Wellness program.
As a club board Director I have a leadership responsibility for Club Community Wellness and Elite Player Pathways.
An outline of my professional and personal background is located on the about page of the club website for your information.
Why a club community Wellness program.
Positive mental health and wellbeing are important for young people’s ability to enjoy life, cope with the challenges they face, learn, engage with peers and adults and be well prepared for the future. Creating a positive club environment and building strong ‘right’ relationships and connections throughout the club community will help develop and maintain good mental health and wellbeing for all club members.
What is Wellbeing?
While there are many descriptions of wellbeing, the fact that it’s important to all people is irrefutable. Wellbeing has many components, such as mental, psychological, social, emotional, and spiritual.
Social Wellbeing is a sense of belonging to a community and making a contribution to society.
Emotional Wellbeing means feeling good. Being happy, experiencing positive emotions like love, joy or compassion, and feeling generally satisfied with life.
Spiritual Wellbeing can include feeling connected to a higher power, a sense of meaning or purpose or feelings of peace or transcendence.
The World Health Organisation describes ‘wellbeing’ as a “resource for healthy living” and “positive state of health” that is “more than the absence of an illness” and enables us to function well: psychologically, physically, emotionally and socially.
Benefits from Wellbeing
Multiple research studies have shown that wellbeing doesn’t just feel good – it’s important for happier, healthier living:
· Optimism and positive emotions can reduce the risk of a heart attack by up to 50%. Optimism can be learnt!
· Experiencing three times more positive emotions compared to negative ones leads to a tipping point beyond which we become more resilient to adversity and better able to achieve things.
· Happier people live longer – potentially adding 7½ years to their lifespan.
· Our expression of positive emotions, such as happiness and optimism, influences the people we know, and studies show our positivity can be passed on to others.
· Having high levels of wellbeing has been shown to increase our immunity to infection, lower our risk of some mental health problems, reduce mental decline as we get older, and increase our resilience.
· A high level of wellbeing is good for heart health and provides as much protection from coronary heart disease as quitting smoking does.
The Gold Coast United Football Club ‘Going Well’ programis evidenced based. I have developed the program in the knowledgethat positive mental health and wellbeing are important for young people’s ability to enjoy life, cope with the challenges they face, learn, engage with peers and adults and be well prepared for the future.
The goal of the program is to promote and maintain the mental health and wellbeing of all members of the club- players, parents, coaches and club administrators through weekly blogs posted on the club website, group information meetings for parents and for team coaches and managers and players and individual counselling for players and parents on training nights through the season.
Contact me via mobile 0438184994 or email: wellness@goldcoastunited.com.au. To arrange a confidential meeting at the club on a training night.
Best wishes
Jeff
Dr. J. Kemp OAM