In 2017, the Caroline Springs Football club developed the concept for its official Wellbeing
Program with the aim to create a supportive and nurturing environment for all its players,
families and volunteers. This year, we hope to take the next step with this program and begin taking preventative actions in our community.

It’s no secret that young people today face a number of issues and with the growing influence of social media, these issues no longer stop at 3:30 with the school bell, but follow young people into their own homes and bedrooms – areas that only 20 years ago were havens for escaping ridicule and judgment.

The prevalence of drugs and alcohol, depression and anxiety, and suicide are all alarmingly increasing. Suicide is the leading cause of death for Australians between 15 and 44 years of age and in 2017, about 75% of people who died by suicide were males and 25% were females.

The aim of our wellbeing program is to put into action what we, as a community, can do to help those struggling. Education and awareness are two of the most important preventative actions that we as a club can take. No one should ever feel as though they have don’t have anyone to talk to which is why the contribution of a football club to these issues is vitally important.

It is not the lecturing environment of a school seminar, where most kids would drift off halfway through, but it is a welcoming environment where young people are doing something they love whilst having the support of family, friends, coaches and teammates.

So you might ask why now? The program is all about prevention. We don’t want to wait until something happens before we take action. We want to be proactive not reactive. But most importantly, we have seen issues in neighbouring clubs and how it affects them and we think this is a perfect platform to be proactive and educate our youth. We believe that from this, we can create a culture of respect in our club; respect for each other, respect for opposition and officials, but most importantly respect for one’s self.

We hope that education is the forefront for better, more informed decisions in our youth and that we start taking prevention now.