BHA & RW Support World Mental Health Day

Racing Welfare and the BHA signed the Mental Health Charter in May 2016, the Charter was launched in March 2015 by the Sport and Recreation Alliance, alongside Professional Players Federation and with support from the mental health charity Mind. It sets out how sport can use its collective power to tackle mental ill health and the stigma that surrounds it.
As part of the activities at Chelmsford City racecourse on 10 October, a race has been named in support of World Mental Health Day and Racing Welfare will be in attendance with a stand helping to highlight the importance of talking about mental health to racegoers and participants.

The overall aim of these activities is to raise awareness of what British Racing is doing for those in need within the sport. Racing Welfare provides a 24hr support line, Racing’s Support Line, for those who work in the horseracing industry. The charity has also increased the number of Welfare Officers in the past year, ensuring that the whole of racing’s workforce has access to support.

Using the power of the industry as a whole, the BHA and Racing Welfare want horseracing to come together and raise awareness of mental health and the support that is available to our participants.

The BHA and Racing Welfare will continue to work together to help make an industry-wide difference to tackling mental health and the stigma surrounding it through this and future initiatives. Both organisations would like to thank Chelmsford City and Totepool for their support.

The six core areas of the Mental Health Charter for Sport and Recreation are:

1. Use the sport to promote good mental health and wellbeing
2. Adopt good mental health policies and best practices
3. Appoint ambassadors and role models
4. Tackle discrimination on the grounds of mental health
5. Support a pan-sport platform to develop and share resources and best practice
6. Regular monitoring of our performance