North Riding FA in conjunction with The Football Mental Health Alliance (FMHA) has announced the latest update for The Vault.   

The Vault is a free, pioneering mental health platform designed with comprehensive resources for grassroots football. Built through the collective efforts of County FAs, specialist psychologists, coaches, parents, carers, licenced FIFA agents, and ex-professional players, The Vault serves as a vital resource for everyone involved in grassroots football.  

The Vault contains expert-led, football-themed content in the form of interactive webinars, access to personal stories from current and ex-professional footballers, articles and infographics, a podcast, journals, mental health plans for Clubs to utilise, mental health first aid training and an upcoming conference, all designed to support mental well-being within the grassroots football community.  
 
The Vault is for anyone involved in grassroots football at any level – players, coaches, parents/carers, spectators, volunteers and match officials. 
 
Danny Matharu of FMHA said: “This inaugural update to The Vault, signals our collective commitment to continually evolve The Vault, ensuring that users across the grassroots spectrum always have reasons to return and utilise the resource that’s there for them.” 
 
Steven Wade, Chief Executive Officer at North Riding FA, said: “Included in this update are two new podcasts, four new articles and infographics, a new download, a new date for Mental Health First Aid training and the launch of the ‘Mental Health Playbook.'" 
 
The Mental Health Playbook is a world first for grassroots sport. Taking the term ‘Playbook’ which is a book containing a sports team's strategies and plays, the Football Mental Health Alliance has utilised this to build strategies and ‘plays’ for mental health in the form of simple mental health tips and suggestions, all offered up by people involved in football at all levels.  

Danny Matharu of FMHA added: “A Playbook is a document designed to shape high-performance teams and individuals. They are visual and combine highly impactful images and words, organised for quick reference and easy retention.  

“We’ve all seen coaches on live games showing the sub a folder with instructions, advice and ‘plays’ on before they enter the pitch. This Mental Health Playbook is the same context but instead of guidance on tactics on the pitch, it contains tactics to help build and maintain your mental health on a day-to-day basis.”  

The Playbook contains weekly, actionable tips from experts, ex-pros, and fellow grassrooters. Each tip features an image of the person offering up the tip to show the authenticity of it.  

The FMHA is calling for more submissions of mental health tips from the grassroots family, to ensure there is a diverse range of ideas and principles about mental health.  

The Vault update launches on Monday 13th November 2023.  

Details can be found at www.vault.thefmha.com where 'grassrooters’ can sign up for free. 

The Mental Health Playbook can be found at https://vault.thefmha.com/mental-health-playbook/ where you can submit your tip.