Sport-for-development programmes

1. Introduction

Version followed: the sport-for-development sector as sportanddev.org (Swiss Academy for Development) defines it, with the "sport plus / plus sport" spectrum that sportanddev.org published; Football Fans in Training (FFIT) as Hunt et al. (2014) report it; the Homeless World Cup as its foundation describes it; and child-safeguarding standards from the International Safeguards for Children in Sport and the U.S. Center for SafeSport. Clinical procedures in sections 4 and 5 are the therapist's side of client participation and are mostly [synthesis].

Sport for development is not a psychotherapy. It is a field of programmes run by NGOs, sports clubs, foundations and public bodies. sportanddev.org defines it as "the use of sport as a tool for development and peace". It counts all forms of physical activity, play, recreation, casual or competitive sport, and indigenous games, using the UN Inter-agency Taskforce definition [source: sportanddev.org, What is sport and development]. The areas it names are individual development, health promotion and disease prevention, gender equality, social integration and social capital, and peace building [source: same]. The UN Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP), set up in 2001, was closed by Secretary-General Guterres in May 2017. A direct UN–IOC partnership took over its role, and most of its portfolio moved to UN DESA [source: Play the Game, 11 May 2017]. 6 April is the UN-recognised International Day of Sport for Development and Peace [source: sportanddev.org].

The programmes' own account of change is this: sport is a hook that brings a hard-to-reach group together. The development outcomes come from the relationships, the facilitation and the added activities around the sport, not from the sport alone. In sportanddev.org's words for "plus sport" designs, it is the processes and relationships used to deliver and support the sport that do the work [source: sportanddev.org, Sport for peace and development: a spectrum and typology]. Examples:

FFIT is a gender-sensitised weight-management and healthy-living programme for men. Community coaches deliver it at professional football clubs. Evidence status: in a pragmatic RCT (747 men, 13 Scottish clubs), the programme group lost more weight at 12 months than a waiting-list group [source: Hunt et al. 2014, Lancet].
The Homeless World Cup is an annual street-football tournament, held since 2003 and co-founded by Mel Young and Harald Schmied. Its national partners use football within wider community programmes [source: Homeless World Cup FAQs].
Laureus Sport for Good funds community sport programmes, for example through its "Sport for Good City" coalitions. In Paris, Movember's Ahead of the Game workshops build coaches' mental-health literacy [source: Laureus news, 4 Aug 2026].

For the psychotherapist, the work is to:

help a client find, start and stay in a suitable programme;
use participation as behavioural activation and social connection;
prepare the client and debrief what happens;
collaborate with coaches, with consent;
watch for safeguarding concerns, compulsive exercise, disordered eating and burnout in clients who become helpers;
deliver sport-based work only where trained, permitted and insured [synthesis].

The related guides are II 040 (behavioural activation), 081 (social prescribing: VIII 195, V 155), 082 (mutual aid and peer support), 122 (exercise) and the other guides in this family on volunteering and men's sheds. Hazing in sport belongs to Domain XVI: cross-refer, not described here.

2. Framework

Sport-for-development bodies publish no single phased therapy protocol, so the framework below combines programme structure (as sourced) with the therapist's parallel work [synthesis].

Programme types (sportanddev.org spectrum).

Sport development: building skills and running competitions.
Sport plus: ordinary sport designed around a development aim.
Plus sport: a development objective comes first. Sport, often adapted, is the entry point, usually with peer-group discussion.
No sport: arts, dialogue and advocacy alongside the sport.

Knowing where a programme sits tells you what it is actually trying to change [source: sportanddev.org typology].

Example programme format (FFIT, as published).

Setting: a men-only programme at the club's home stadium, using club branding.
Delivery: community coaching staff with two days' training from the research team, in groups of up to 30 men.
Active phase: weekly group sessions, each combining classroom work on healthy living with physical activity. The balance shifted toward activity as the weeks went on.
Behaviour-change techniques: self-monitoring, specific goal setting, implementation intentions and feedback, with group social support actively promoted.
Maintenance: a light-touch phase of email prompts and a reunion at the club.

The FFIT coaches stayed after sessions so that men could raise personal issues [source: Hunt et al. 2014 full text]. Other programmes differ: always ask the programme for its own structure. Do not state session counts for other programmes unless they publish them.

Therapist's parallel phases [synthesis].

Exploration and screening. Goal: decide whether sport-based participation fits the client's values and goals. Screen medical, eating-disorder, compulsive-exercise and trauma-in-sport issues. Route physical-activity questions to the physician or a qualified exercise professional. Move on when the client wants to try, any medical clearance the programme requires is in hand, and no red flags remain unaddressed.
Programme selection and evaluation. Goal: find a programme with sound safeguarding, trained staff and a clear aim. Move on when the client has a named option they agree to approach.
Preparation. Goal: plan the first attendance as a behavioural-activation step, solve practical barriers, rehearse social situations and agree consent for any contact with staff. Move on when a first attendance is scheduled.
Participation with debriefing. Goal: link experiences to therapy goals (mood, connection, self-efficacy, identity) and address setbacks. Continue while participation serves the goals.
Consolidation and transition. Goal: plan for the programme's end, maintain connections, and decide about stepping into helper roles such as volunteer coach or peer mentor.
Helper phase, if chosen. Goal: the helper-therapy benefits with burnout prevention.

There is no evidence-based session count for this therapist work. Set the pace in each case [synthesis].

3. Guiding principles

Sport is the hook, not the treatment. Ask what the programme does around the sport (facilitation, discussion, relationships), because that is where its stated change mechanism lies [source: sportanddev.org typology].
Purpose before activity. Match the programme's development aim to the client's goal, not just their liking for a sport [source: sportanddev.org typology; synthesis].
No exercise prescription from the therapist. WHO guidelines exist for every age group, including pregnant and postpartum women and people with chronic conditions or disability [source: Bull et al. 2020]. Do not set amounts or intensities. Route those questions to the physician or a qualified exercise professional, and frame participation as valued activity (II 040) [synthesis].
Screen before you encourage. Check for compulsive exercise, disordered eating, cardiac or other medical issues, and injury. Encouraging sport can feed an eating disorder [synthesis].
Work with identity, not against it. FFIT was designed to work with masculine identities and fan loyalty rather than against them, in its setting, content and delivery style [source: Hunt et al. 2014]. In practice, use the client's own sporting identities and language as resources [synthesis].
Safeguarding first. Children and adults at risk in sport are protected by policies, behaviour guidelines, safe recruitment and partner working (the eight International Safeguards) [source: sportanddev.org child safeguarding]. Check these before any referral involving young people.
Voluntariness and choice. Participation is the client's choice. Pressure from family, probation or services reduces benefit and can harm the alliance [synthesis].
Collaboration with consent. Share information with coaches only with explicit, specific consent. Agree what will and will not be passed on [synthesis].
Stay within competence and role. If you also coach or volunteer in a programme your client attends, this is a multiple relationship. Assess it under APA Ethics Code Standard 3.05 [source: APA Ethics Code]. Get training and insurance before delivering sport-based sessions yourself [synthesis].
Helping helps, within limits. Riessman's "helper therapy" principle (1965) proposes that people benefit from helping others [source: Riessman 1965, Social Work 10(2)]. Evidence status: in Jenkinson et al.'s review, cohort studies linked volunteering to better depression scores, life satisfaction and wellbeing, but RCTs did not confirm this and the causal mechanisms remain unclear [source: Jenkinson et al. 2013]. Watch for burnout [synthesis].
Plan the ending. Programmes end, teams change and tournaments finish. FFIT built in a maintenance phase [source: Hunt et al. 2014]. Plan continuity before the end arrives [synthesis].
Organisations' impact claims are their own. For example, the Homeless World Cup reports that 94% of players say it had a positive impact on their lives [source: Homeless World Cup FAQs]. This is self-report. Do not present it to clients as a guaranteed outcome [synthesis].

4. Intervention inventory

The sources describe programme components (FFIT's behaviour-change techniques, peer discussion in plus-sport designs, the safeguards, coach mental-health training). They do not describe therapist procedures. The therapist-side procedures below (assessment, preparation, collaboration, debriefing, meaning-making) are therefore marked [synthesis] where they go beyond the sources.

4.1 Values-and-interest exploration for sport-based participation

Purpose / when: At the start, when isolation, low mood, low self-efficacy or loss of structure suggest that a group activity could help. This checks whether sport is meaningful to this client, rather than a default suggestion [synthesis].
Steps:
1. Ask about the client's past and present relationship with sport and play: playing, watching, fandom, school PE, family sport culture.
2. Identify the valued directions involved, such as belonging, competence, fun, health, contribution or routine.
3. Ask what kind of group feels possible: casual or competitive, mixed or single-gender, team or individual, as a player or as a helper.
4. Write down one or two directions, not activities, as the anchor [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative): "Before we talk about any programme, tell me what sport has meant in your life, the good bits and the bad bits." / "If you joined something like this, what would you most want to get out of it: people, purpose, fitness, something else?"
Watch for: Enthusiasm that is really compliance with a GP, a family member or a probation officer. Talk of "punishing" the body or "earning" food, which signals screening (4.2). Shame from past PE experiences (4.3). It is working when the client can name a value the activity would serve, in their own words.

4.2 Medical routing and screening for compulsive exercise and disordered eating

Purpose / when: Before encouraging participation, and again whenever weight, food or training talk intensifies. This is essential before referral to weight-related programmes such as FFIT [synthesis].
Steps:
1. Ask whether a doctor has advised for or against physical activity, and whether the programme asks for health checks. Route physical-activity questions to the client's physician or a qualified exercise professional. Note that WHO guidelines exist and that these professionals apply them [source: Bull et al. 2020; synthesis].
2. Screen for compulsive exercise: exercising despite injury or illness, distress when unable to train, exercise used to compensate for eating, and rigid rules.
3. Screen for disordered eating: restriction, bingeing, purging, preoccupation with weight or shape. Use a validated screen within your competence.
4. If positive, refer to an eating-disorder service or a registered dietitian. For support resources, give the National Alliance for Eating Disorders. Reconsider whether a weight-focused programme is appropriate.
5. Never suggest changing medication around sport. Route that to the prescriber [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative): "Some people find sport helps their mood; for others it turns into something that controls them. Has exercise or food ever felt like that for you?" / "Questions about how much or how hard are for your doctor or a qualified trainer; my job is to help you get there and get something out of it."
Watch for: The client minimising symptoms to get a place. Weight-loss framing that strengthens eating-disorder cognitions. It is working when the client has medical clearance where needed and any ED or compulsive-exercise concern is being treated first or alongside.

4.3 Sport-history and trauma-in-sport inquiry

Purpose / when: When sport stirs avoidance, shame or fear, or before referring a survivor of abuse to a coach-led setting [synthesis].
Steps:
1. Ask gently about humiliation in PE, bullying in changing rooms, body-shaming, exclusion for disability, gender or sexuality, and abuse or misconduct by coaches or team-mates.
2. If hazing is disclosed, work with it clinically and cross-refer Domain XVI. Do not ask for procedural detail.
3. Map triggers likely in a programme: changing rooms, physical contact, shouting, being picked last, uniforms.
4. Agree accommodations to request, or choose a non-sport alternative [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative): "Sport is wonderful for some people and has been a place of real harm for others. Is there anything from school or clubs that we should keep in mind?"
Watch for: Dissociation or shutdown while discussing sport. Current abuse that triggers safeguarding (4.15). It is working when the client can anticipate triggers and choose how to manage them.

4.4 Evaluating a programme before referral

Purpose / when: Before recommending any programme, and especially for young people, adults at risk or people experiencing homelessness [synthesis].
Steps:
1. Place the programme on the spectrum: sport development, sport plus, plus sport or no sport. Ask what its development aim is [source: sportanddev.org typology].
2. Check safeguarding against the eight International Safeguards: written policy, procedures for responding to concerns, advice and support, risk minimisation, behaviour guidelines, safe recruitment, training and communication, partner working, and monitoring [source: sportanddev.org child safeguarding].
3. In US Olympic and Paralympic movement settings, ask about compliance with the SafeSport Code and the Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policies (MAAPP) [source: U.S. Center for SafeSport].
4. Ask about staff training: in delivery (as FFIT coaches were trained) and in mental-health literacy (as Ahead of the Game workshops provide) [source: Hunt et al. 2014; Laureus 2026].
5. Ask for any evaluation, and how the programme handles injury, distress and disclosures. Ask whether cost, transport and kit are covered [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative), to a programme lead: "I'm a therapist; a client of mine may be interested. Could you tell me what the programme aims to change, how sessions run, and who your safeguarding lead is?"
Watch for: No named safeguarding lead. Charismatic leaders who resist questions. Pressure to win at all costs. Unrealistic outcome promises. It is working when you can describe the programme's aim, structure and safeguards to the client accurately.

4.5 Behavioural-activation scheduling of participation

Purpose / when: Depression, withdrawal or loss of routine, once a programme is chosen. This frames participation as a valued activity, not a fitness target (II 040) [synthesis].
Steps:
1. Link the session to the value identified in 4.1.
2. Schedule the specific occasion: day, travel, kit, who the client will meet. Do not set any amount, intensity or frequency of exercise.
3. Predict the mood and obstacles before attending, and rate mood and mastery or pleasure afterwards.
4. Review in session and adjust the plan rather than blaming the client.
Example language (illustrative): "Let's treat Thursday's session as an experiment in whether being with people around football lifts anything for you. We're not measuring fitness; we're noticing mood and connection."
Watch for: All-or-nothing thinking ("I missed one, so it's ruined"). Activity done only to avoid feelings. It is working when the client links attending to mood or connection changes and keeps attending without your prompting.

4.6 Barrier problem-solving and graded first attendance

Purpose / when: When social anxiety, low confidence, cost, transport, childcare, disability access or housing instability stand between the client and attending [synthesis].
Steps:
1. List the barriers concretely.
2. Problem-solve each one: free programmes, kit loans, travel, accessible venues. FFIT, for example, was delivered free of charge [source: Hunt et al. 2014].
3. For anxiety, build a graded plan: look at the website, phone the coordinator, watch a session, then join. Combine this with your usual anxiety work, with the client's consent at each step.
4. Rehearse the first few minutes: arriving, introducing oneself, what to say if asked why they are there.
Example language (illustrative): "What's the very first moment you're dreading? Let's walk through it now, step by step." / "You don't owe anyone your story. 'A friend told me about it' is a full answer."
Watch for: Plans too ambitious for the client's present state. Hidden barriers such as shame about a body, clothing or literacy. It is working when the first attendance happens, or the client can name exactly what blocked it.

4.7 Consent-based collaboration with coaches and programme staff

Purpose / when: When the client wants staff to know about a need (anxiety, disability, a trauma trigger), or the programme asks for referral information [synthesis].
Steps:
1. Agree with the client exactly what may be shared, with whom, and for what purpose. Document written consent.
2. Share only the minimum that is useful: needs and accommodations, not diagnosis or history unless the client wishes.
3. Agree how staff will raise concerns, and what you will tell the client.
4. Remember that coaches are not clinicians. Ask what their mental-health training covers, such as the Ahead of the Game workshops on psychosocial skills and mental-health literacy [source: Laureus 2026].
Example language (illustrative): "Would it help if the coach knew you sometimes need to step out for a minute? I'd say only that, nothing about our sessions."
Watch for: Staff expecting you to manage behaviour at sessions. Information flowing back to you without the client's agreement. It is working when the client feels the arrangement protects rather than exposes them.

4.8 Preparing for team dynamics: competition, banter and losing

Purpose / when: Before and early in participation, for clients sensitive to criticism, shame, anger or exclusion [synthesis].
Steps:
1. Discuss what teams are like: humour, teasing, competitiveness, being substituted, losing.
2. Note that some programmes deliberately use banter. FFIT encouraged men's banter as a way to talk about sensitive topics [source: Hunt et al. 2014].
3. Help the client tell friendly teasing from belittling, and plan responses and exit options.
4. Plan anger-management or self-soothing steps for heated moments.
Example language (illustrative): "Some of the joking will be how men in that group show they like each other; some might sting. How will you tell the difference in the moment?"
Watch for: Banter that crosses into bullying, homophobia, racism or sexism. These are safeguarding and conduct matters for the programme, not something the client must tolerate. It is working when the client tolerates ordinary friction and can name and act on genuine mistreatment.

4.9 Structured debrief of participation

Purpose / when: After each early session, then periodically. This turns experience into therapeutic material [synthesis].
Steps:
1. Ask what happened: one moment that went well and one that was hard.
2. Explore thoughts, feelings and body states, and link them to the client's formulation.
3. Draw out evidence that disconfirms core beliefs, such as "Nobody wants me around".
4. Agree the next step.
Example language (illustrative): "What was the moment you felt most part of things? What did you tell yourself just then?"
Watch for: Debriefs that only count performance (goals scored, weight). Steer back to meaning and connection. It is working when the client starts debriefing themselves.

4.10 Working with identity and meaning (fandom, masculinity, belonging)

Purpose / when: When sporting identity (a club, a team, "being sporty") is central to the client's sense of self. This includes men who would not seek help elsewhere [synthesis].
Steps:
1. Explore what the identity holds: loyalty, family ties, place, masculinity, pride, grief.
2. Use it as a resource. FFIT's design worked with masculine and fan identities through the club setting, club branding and a men-only, participative style [source: Hunt et al. 2014].
3. Gently question rigid parts of it, such as "Real men don't talk about feelings".
4. Look at how the client's identity can widen beyond performance [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative): "You talk about the club like family. What does it mean to you that this programme happens in your club's ground?"
Watch for: Identity tied entirely to performance or a body ideal, which leaves the client vulnerable to injury and deselection. It is working when the client draws strength from the identity without being confined by it.

4.11 Extending social connection beyond the pitch

Purpose / when: When the client attends but stays isolated outside sessions. This uses the peer support that programmes promote [source: Hunt et al. 2014, social support among group members] and broadens it [synthesis].
Steps:
1. Identify one or two participants the client feels at ease with.
2. Plan a low-stakes extension, such as staying for a drink (non-alcoholic if relevant), watching a match together, or messaging.
3. Rehearse the invitation, and process rejection fears.
4. Review what happened and adjust the next step.
Example language (illustrative): "Who in the group do you find easiest to be around? What's the smallest next step towards knowing him a bit better?"
Watch for: Connection organised around drinking or gambling cultures. Note that FFIT discussed alcohol's place within the programme [source: Hunt et al. 2014]. It is working when the client has contact with at least one participant outside sessions and finds it rewarding.

4.12 Planning for the programme's end and maintenance

Purpose / when: From the midpoint of a time-limited programme. Endings can reactivate loss and isolation [synthesis].
Steps:
1. Find out what the programme offers afterwards. FFIT, for example, followed its active phase with light-touch email prompts and a reunion at the club [source: Hunt et al. 2014]. Homeless World Cup partners describe players moving on to education, work, rehabilitation, supported housing, or roles as coaches and support staff [source: Homeless World Cup FAQs].
2. With the client, map which supports and routines they will keep and which they will replace.
3. Name the feelings about ending, and plan for the first weeks after it.
Example language (illustrative): "The programme ends next month. Let's plan now for what Thursdays look like after that, so the end doesn't take the good things with it."
Watch for: Abrupt drop in mood after a tournament or programme ends. All the client's gains attributed to the programme rather than to themselves. It is working when the client has a concrete continuation plan and sees the gains as their own.

4.13 Stepping into a helper role (volunteer, coach, peer mentor)

Purpose / when: When a client who has benefited wants to give back, as some Homeless World Cup players become coaches or support staff [source: Homeless World Cup FAQs]. It draws on Riessman's helper-therapy principle [source: Riessman 1965].
Steps:
1. Explore the client's motives: contribution, identity, belonging, rescuing others, avoiding their own problems.
2. Check readiness. Is the client's own recovery stable enough, and what are the programme's requirements for helpers (training, background checks, supervision)?
3. Agree boundaries: hours, which roles, and who supports the helper.
4. Review regularly for benefit and strain (4.14).
Example language (illustrative): "Helping others can be good for people, and it can also be draining. What would tell us this role is still good for you?"
Watch for: Over-identification with participants. Helping as a substitute for the client's own care. Unsupervised responsibility for vulnerable people. Evidence status: cohort studies associate volunteering with better wellbeing, but RCTs did not confirm it [source: Jenkinson et al. 2013]. It is working when the role adds meaning without crowding out the client's own needs.

4.14 Burnout monitoring for helpers (clients, coaches and the therapist)

Purpose / when: When a client volunteers, coaches or runs community sport, or you yourself do. Sport-for-development staff often work with high-need groups, frequently with little supervision [synthesis].
Steps:
1. Ask periodically about exhaustion, cynicism, sleep, irritability, guilt about saying no, and a sense of being responsible for everyone.
2. Map demands against resources: supervision, a team, time off, training.
3. Help the client set limits and ask the programme for support or debriefing after hard events, such as a participant's crisis or a death.
4. For yourself, seek supervision and keep your volunteer and clinical roles separate (4.17).
Example language (illustrative): "You mentioned you've been at the pitch five nights straight and answering lads' messages at midnight. What happens to you if you keep going like this?"
Watch for: Vicarious trauma after participants disclose abuse, homelessness crises or suicidal thoughts. If the helper themselves is at risk, follow standard risk assessment and give crisis resources (988 in the US; Samaritans 116 123 in the UK and Ireland). It is working when the helper keeps limits and has someone to debrief with.

4.15 Responding to safeguarding disclosures in sport

Purpose / when: When a client (child or adult) discloses abuse, harassment or misconduct by a coach, team-mate or official, or you have concerns about a programme [source: International Safeguards; U.S. Center for SafeSport; synthesis].
Steps:
1. Listen, do not investigate, and record the client's words.
2. Follow your own statutory and professional reporting duties first: child protection, adult safeguarding, police where indicated.
3. Identify the sport body's route. The programme's safeguarding lead is the first contact, as the safeguards set out under procedures for responding to concerns. In the US Olympic and Paralympic movement, the U.S. Center for SafeSport resolves abuse and misconduct reports and runs a "Report a Concern" route [source: U.S. Center for SafeSport]. In the UK, the NSPCC's Child Protection in Sport Unit publishes the International Safeguards for Children in Sport (eight safeguards coordinated by UNICEF, including one on responding to concerns) and other sport safeguarding resources [source: NSPCC Child Protection in Sport Unit].
4. Support the client through the process, and pause their participation if they wish.
Example language (illustrative): "Thank you for telling me. I'm not going to ask for every detail. I do need to explain what I have to do next to keep you and others safe."
Watch for: Pressure from team or club loyalty to stay silent. Retaliation, such as deselection. It is working when the client feels believed and the concern reaches the people with the duty to act.

4.16 Children, young people and families: consent, assent and fit

Purpose / when: When a young client is referred to a youth sport-for-development programme, or parents seek advice [synthesis].
Steps:
1. Get the young person's own assent as well as parental consent.
2. Explore the young person's wishes rather than the parents' hopes.
3. Evaluate the programme as in 4.4, focusing on the safeguards.
4. Agree with the family what the programme will and will not be told.
5. Watch for pressure to perform, or for sport being used as discipline.
Example language (illustrative), to a young person: "Your mum thinks this club could be good for you. What do you think? It's okay to say you're not sure."
Watch for: Grooming red flags around adults: special favours, secret contact, private messaging, isolation from the group. Never identify children in any report beyond what your duties require. It is working when the young person chooses to go and talks freely about it.

4.17 Delivering or co-designing a sport-based group yourself

Purpose / when: When a service wants a therapist-led "plus sport" group, such as a football-and-talk group for men or a youth group. This is only appropriate where you are trained and permitted and the service carries suitable insurance [synthesis].
Steps:
1. Set the development or therapeutic aim first, then pick or adapt the activity for its power to attract and engage the target group. Plus-sport designs often use modified games and simple equipment [source: sportanddev.org typology].
2. Build in structured peer-group discussion, the core plus-sport component [source: sportanddev.org typology].
3. Partner with a qualified coach or exercise professional for the physical activity. You do not set exercise loads [synthesis].
4. Apply the International Safeguards: written policy, procedures for concerns, behaviour guidelines, safe recruitment and training, and monitoring [source: sportanddev.org child safeguarding].
5. Plan confidentiality for public venues, injury and first-aid arrangements, and a debrief after each session.
6. If you also hold another role in the setting (coach, club member, volunteer), assess the multiple relationship under APA Standard 3.05 [source: APA Ethics Code].
Example language (illustrative), opening a session: "We'll play for a bit and then sit down together. Nobody has to share anything; what's said in the circle stays here, with the usual limits I'll explain."
Watch for: Confidentiality leaks in public places. Competitive escalation. Participants who need individual risk assessment. It is working when attendance holds and the discussion moves from banter to real concerns.

4.18 Consultation to coaches on mental-health literacy

Purpose / when: When a programme asks for help supporting participants' mental health. Workshops such as Ahead of the Game aim to build coaches' psychosocial skills and mental-health literacy, so that young people can recognise who they can talk to [source: Laureus 2026].
Steps:
1. Clarify that coaches are a supportive presence and a link to help, not therapists.
2. Help them recognise signs of distress, respond kindly, and know the local referral and crisis routes, including safe messaging about suicide.
3. Agree how they will escalate concerns, and their safeguarding links.
4. Offer debriefing after crises.
5. Respect any licensed curriculum: do not reproduce its materials [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative): "Your job isn't to fix it; it's to notice, ask, listen, and know who to call."
Watch for: Coaches taking on clinical roles, or keeping secrets that should be escalated. It is working when coaches refer appropriately and feel supported.

4.19 Working with people experiencing homelessness and multiple disadvantage

Purpose / when: When a client attends a street-football programme or is considering one. The Homeless World Cup describes homelessness as isolating, and its partners combine football with wider community programmes [source: Homeless World Cup FAQs].
Steps:
1. Coordinate with the client's housing, substance-use and other support workers, with consent.
2. Use participation for structure, belonging and self-esteem. Keep housing, safety and health needs in front.
3. If selection for a tournament or travel is possible, plan for the excitement, the stress and the return [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative): "Football gives you something to look forward to each week. Let's make sure the other things, like the housing appointment, don't get lost."
Watch for: A post-tournament slump. Substance relapse around events. Unstable contact. It is working when participation becomes a stable anchor that helps with engagement in other services.

4.20 Working with injury, deselection and loss of sport

Purpose / when: When a client loses access to sport through injury, illness, age, deselection or a programme closing [synthesis].
Steps:
1. Treat it as a loss: name it and allow grief, anger and fears about identity.
2. Find which valued functions the sport served (4.1), and alternative routes to them, such as helper roles (4.13) or other groups.
3. Route rehabilitation and return-to-activity questions to the physician or a physiotherapist.
Example language (illustrative): "It sounds like the injury took more than your knee; it took your Tuesday nights and your mates. Which of those can we hold on to?"
Watch for: Depression, substance use, or pushing back into sport against medical advice. It is working when the client re-engages with the values by another route.

5. Handling problems

The programme sources do not address clinical problem-handling. All guidance in this section is [synthesis] unless a source is tagged.

Client agrees but never goes (non-adherence). Treat it as data, not failure. Do a chain analysis of the moment the client decided not to go. Shrink the step (phone call, watch a session, bring a friend). Re-check whether the activity really serves a value (4.1) or was someone else's idea. Look for hidden barriers: cost, clothing, shame, transport, literacy [synthesis].
"I'm not sporty" / resistance. Validate it. Explore what "sport" has meant (4.3). Point out that the sector's definition includes play, recreation and casual or indigenous games, not only competition [source: sportanddev.org]. Offer helper, spectator or social roles, or non-sport options. Drop the idea if the client has no interest; social connection can be built elsewhere (social prescribing, guide 081) [synthesis].
Overwhelm at the first session. Agree an exit plan beforehand and permission to watch rather than play. Debrief what overwhelmed the client and grade the next attempt. For trauma triggers (shouting, physical contact, changing rooms), ask the programme for accommodations with consent (4.7) [synthesis].
Participation becomes compulsive or tied to eating. Stop encouraging attendance. Screen and refer (4.2) to an eating-disorder service or registered dietitian; the National Alliance for Eating Disorders is a support resource. Liaise with the client's physician. Reconsider weight-framed programmes. Do not negotiate exercise amounts yourself [synthesis].
Medical event or injury. Serious adverse events can occur in community programmes; the FFIT trial recorded some, two judged related to the programme [source: Hunt et al. 2014]. Make sure the client has medical follow-up. Then work with fear, loss and identity (4.20) [synthesis].
Team conflict, bullying or discriminatory banter. Help the client distinguish ordinary friction from mistreatment (4.8). Support raising it with the programme's safeguarding or welfare lead. Where it amounts to abuse, follow 4.15. Hazing rituals: Domain XVI [synthesis].
Rupture over the therapist "pushing" sport. Name it openly, apologise for any pressure, and return the choice to the client. Check whether you have become identified with a referrer's agenda, such as a GP's weight goal or a court requirement [synthesis].
Dual relationship surfaces. You coach or volunteer at the client's programme, or meet them at a match. Discuss it with the client. Agree how you will each behave if you meet. Consider whether to step back from one role. Assess it under APA Standard 3.05 and seek consultation [source: APA Ethics Code; synthesis].
Confidentiality in public or community settings. Agree in advance how to greet, or not greet, each other in public. Never discuss therapy content at the venue. In therapist-led outdoor or sport groups, explain the limits of group confidentiality [synthesis].
Programme ends, loses funding or closes. Expect grief and loss of structure. Begin the transition planning in 4.12 early, map alternatives, and keep the connections the client values [synthesis].
Helper burnout or vicarious trauma. Follow 4.14. Reduce the load, get the client supervision and debriefing within the programme, and consider a pause. If the helper reports suicidal thoughts, do a standard risk assessment and give crisis resources: 988 (US); Samaritans 116 123 (UK and Ireland) [synthesis].
Post-event slump (tournament, final, award). Plan for the return beforehand (4.19). Normalise the dip and schedule valued activities for the weeks afterwards [synthesis].
Safeguarding doubts about a programme. If the safeguards are weak (no policy, no lead, unsafe recruitment), do not refer. If a current client attends, discuss your concerns with them. Where risk to children or adults at risk is present, report through statutory routes and the sport body [source: International Safeguards; U.S. Center for SafeSport; synthesis].
Client wants to start a programme themselves. Support the values behind it. Direct them to sector resources such as sportanddev.org and the International Safeguards, to safeguarding training, and to qualified coaches. Screen for overcommitment and burnout [synthesis].
Programme claims oversold. Help the client hold realistic expectations. Organisations' impact figures are often self-report [source: Homeless World Cup FAQs], and the volunteering evidence is mainly observational [source: Jenkinson et al. 2013] [synthesis].

Sources

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