KINGSTON, Jamaica – Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Olivia Grange, has described her ministry’s forum, ‘Elevate the Game: Building the Muscle of the Mind’, as a huge success.

The virtual forum on mental health resilience amongst athletes was held yesterday in collaboration with Optimisation Hub of Australia and local mental health experts including consultant psychiatrist Dr Saphire Longmore.

 Grange said the forum met the objective of providing an effective platform for sports personnel to share challenges, experiences, strategies and to look at a pathway to address specific issues related to COVID-19.

“Athletes shared in a candid way the challenges that they faced and the steps they were taking to cope with those challenges.

“The expert panellists recommended that athletes use their minds as much as they did their muscles as they planned for competitions, and for all other aspects of life. But special support must be provided for athletes transitioning from the junior to the senior stage,” she said.

 It was also recommended that coaches and support personnel assisting the athletes to navigate through life needed support themselves which should be provided by sporting bodies.

As a result, Grange is proposing a partnership with GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport to offer mental resilience courses as a first step. 

“But even before that, the ministry will be hosting a post forum session in the next two weeks to continue the conversation.

So we will be seeing you and engaging your more and we look forward to those engagements,” she said.