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As we recognize World Mental Health Day today and year three of our Head In the Game youth mental wellbeing program, the conversation for us expands beyond awareness. It’s about action, particularly in the places where young people spend their most formative years. And increasingly, the people leading that action are the youth themselves.
So, how did we get here?
The Head in the Game (HITG) Grants and Capacity-Building pillar launched in the U.S. in May 2023 to address the deepening youth mental health crisis. Currently 1 in 5 youth have had a serious or debilitating mental illness, with depression and anxiety among the leading causes. Recognizing an urgent need, the program engages the sports community at all levels as part of collaborative efforts to accelerate attitudinal change, normalize mental health as a topic of everyday conversations and provide resources to teens and those supporting them. Our youth-focused awareness pillar, the HITG Campaign, launched on World Mental Health Day in October 2023.
Education, Awareness, Advocacy
Head In The Game’s progression tells a story of growth, while always leaving room for reflection and improvement to ensure sustainable impact.
Commitment: Since 2023, 43 sports-based youth development organizations across California, Illinois, Minnesota and New York have received grants to support their staff and coaches in deepening wellbeing-centered approaches in their work. And the results have been inspiring. As one organization shared, “Coach training really opened our eyes to think differently about mental health and how we support our kids. It wasn’t even a topic of conversation before, but now it’s part of how we do our things. We’ve integrated it into our programming and completely changed our outlook.” (Figure Skating in Harlem)
Campaign: Our awareness pillar provides judgement-free resources, stories and motivation for young people and their caregivers. With additional support from motivational Collaborators, the multimedia platform has positively impacted over 24,000 lives to date.
Community: Our digital Learning Community brings coaches, nonprofits, sport and mental wellbeing experts and Collaborators together to share, solve challenges and celebrate progress. We’re proud to have more than 600 members. Learn more and sign up here.
Coaches: Expanding from 636 coaches from 106 organizations to 2,334 coaches from 387 organizations, our free annual Coaches Training continues to support coaches and young leaders in sport to prioritize the mental being of the young people they serve. Led by expert providers Center for Healing and Justice Through Sport (CHJS), Doc Wayne, Get Fit Fly Right (GFFR), Soccer Without Borders and the U.S. Center for Mental Health & Sport, the series has encompassed in-person, virtual and self-paced options. HITG measures impact beyond reach, ensuring that the amount of time young people spend with coaches is also considered. At the start of 2025, these coaches were directly supporting over 100,000 youth. By year end, they are on track to collectively transform the lives of more than 200,000 teens. Coaches in the U.S. can learn more and register for our remaining sessions here.
Our surveys reveal something profound happening in our program communities:
- 76% of trained coaches now report finding positive mental wellbeing more important than they did before.
- Two-thirds (66%) feel better equipped to recognize when youth are struggling, moving beyond traditional approaches.
- 84% of the coaches feel significantly more confident in their ability to engage in more mental health conversations with the young people they work with
Most importantly, the youth themselves are responding:
- Nearly three-quarters (74%) are learning new coping strategies.
- 78% are showing greater confidence in recognizing emotional distress in themselves and their peers.
And perhaps the most telling statistic of all, 46% are having more mental health conversations with the adults in their lives. Conversations that might never have happened without this foundation of trust and understanding.
Flipping the script: Youth In The Lead
But, as the needs of the communities evolve, we’re finding new ways to grow HITG. In conversations with our community partners, we’ve consistently heard that a crucial group is often missing from youth development conversations: the youth themselves.
“Too often, decisions about young people’s physical and mental health are made without their input. Just like we include youth voice in positive youth development, we need to do the same when it comes to their wellbeing. Young people listen to and learn from each other, and it’s been proven that when peers lead other peers, it’s more impactful,” shares Claudia Larrea, Beyond Sport Senior Programs Manager.
This conviction led us to pilot the Head In The Game “TAPcoach” cohort as part of our training series. Developed in partnership with GFFR and its founder Coach D Williams, Beyond Sport engaged young leaders (ages 18-24) who are already working with youth to, in turn, train other coaches and youth leaders in their own local communities.
Beyond Sport and GFFR put out a call for applicants across New York City and the surrounding areas working with 13-19-year-olds to take part in the program. George (20), Kimberly (19), Jonathan (21) and Justin (19) were ultimately selected from sport for development programs supported by HITG in New York City, including NYCFC’s City in the Community and the Chill Foundation.
Over the course of several weeks, they learned GFFR’s TAP Method (training on the pillars of Awareness, Development and Normalization), with the intent to teach others working with youth how to develop self-awareness, practice mindfulness and destigmatize mental health. This is done through facilitated conversations (“TAPtalks”) that will help build confidence and competence in youth and those who lead them by changing how mental health is approached in sports. This framework is centered on what Coach D terms “mental hygiene” – the regular practice of checking in with one’s feelings and processing difficult emotions to prevent small struggles from escalating into bigger crises.
Why Peer Insights Matter
What makes this approach effective is the lived expertise these young trainers bring. George and Kimberly aren’t reciting theory from a textbook. They’re sharing what it actually feels like to be a teen in today’s youth sports environment. What matters more than the competitive aspect of sport is the connection made with others, creating trust and space to be themselves. When someone like George teaches an adult how to spot anxiety, he is using the authority of authentic experience. When Kimberly gives an example of why a young person might not open up about depression, she understands the fear of being seen as weak or of disappointing adults.
When asked about what he felt was missing in current coach and youth interactions, Jonathan explained: “Some coaches really just don’t know what to do in certain situations. Before you approach us, you need to reflect on yourself first. And that’s what’s lacking, just the knowledge of how to respond. Like, they react, but don’t listen. That’s a big thing that many – and not only coaches, but also youth leaders – do. They don’t really listen.”
Last month, Kimberly and George, representing the Bronx and Queens, got to put their learning into action. They led a session in Brooklyn open to those working in sports settings, schools or members of the community interested in supporting youth mental wellbeing. We were proud of their courage to lead these conversations, equipping others with best practice tools, emphasizing the need for authentic connections and teaching approaches on building emotional intelligence in youth. In October, they will be joined by Jonathan and Justin to lead a session in Harlem, New York. Spots are now open for this session, register by October 15 to attend.
Building a resilient future
Having young leaders lead conversations is extremely valuable, providing lived experience in the internal world of the young people they serve. By expanding their influence from participants to partners and now to peer trainers, they aren’t just addressing a crisis; they are contributing to a more resilient, empathetic and mentally healthy future.
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