Chichester Observer

Cricket club’s health project is world first

- Cricket Steve Bone www.chichester.co.uk/sport

Sussex Cricket has become the first profession­al sports club in the world to launch its own bespoke online mental health and well-being platform for the community.

The Sussex Cricket Mental Health & Wellbeing Hub is launched today by Sussex and England cricketing legend Sarah Taylor, who herself has contribute­d to the groundbrea­king innovation.

Developed in partnershi­p with Frog Systems and with the support of Sussex Partnershi­p NHS Foundation Trust, the hub is a free online resource designed to help users find hope and support through the power of shared, lived experience­s.

At the heart of the mobileopti­mised platform is the ‘Champions Cinema’ - an ever-growing collection of thousands of videos of 60 seconds or less where people from the Sussex Cricket community and beyond share their experience­s from an A to Z of topics that impact or can help with our mental health and well-being.

Contributo­rs include Sussex Cricket players and staff, including Taylor, club cricketers, experts from Sussex Partnershi­p NHS Foundation Trust as well as individual­s from a whole host of background­s and life experience­s. The fully searchable library also provides links to trusted resources and further help relevant to the videos being viewed by a user.

The Sussex Cricket Mental Health & Wellbeing Hub is completely free to use by anybody with an internet connection and requires no registrati­on, ensuring complete anonymity for users.

The platform came to life after a Sussex Cricket working group, chaired by club president Sir Rod Aldridge, was tasked with finding ways in which Sussex Cricket with its prominent role and significan­t reach in the community could make a meaningful and long-lasting contributi­on to addressing issues exacerbate­d by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Sussex Cricket Mental Health & Wellbeing Hub is available now to anyone that needs it - visit sussexcric­ket. frog.net

Sarah Taylor, Sussex player, England World Cup winner and nominee for ICC Women’s Player of the Decade, said: “I know from my own experience­s how helpful it is to share how we’re feeling when it comes to looking after our mental well-being. Sussex’s new platform is a wonderful way of taking the power of shared experience and using it to give as many people as possible support and hope.”

 ?? Picture: Alex Taylor (@alexgjtayl­or) ?? Sarah Taylor uses the new mental health and well-being hub
Picture: Alex Taylor (@alexgjtayl­or) Sarah Taylor uses the new mental health and well-being hub

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