FEPSAC Webinar: Promoting Mental Health in High Performance Environments: Key lessons learned (Jolan Kegelaers)

Wednesday 10th September (12:30 CET)

Promoting Mental Health in High Performance Environments: Key lessons learned

Next Wednesday 10th september at 12:30 CET, Jolan Kegelaers will present our next FEPSAC Webinar on Promoting Mental Health in High Performance Environments. 

In recent years, the importance of mental health has gained increasing recognition in sport and other high performance domains Yet, the concept remains misunderstood, and structural initiatives to foster mental health are often still limited.

In this webinar, I will share key lessons learned from a growing body of research, both my own and that of colleagues worldwide, on how mental health can be better understood and promoted in high performance contexts. Specifically, I will discuss (a) the current state of mental health across different performance domains, (b) factors that predict mental health outcomes in these environments, and (c) practical strategies to promote mental health among diverse groups of performers.

Participants will gain insights into evidence based approaches that can support athletes, coaches, and other high achievers in sustaining both well being and performance. 

JOLAN KEGELAERS 

Dr. Jolan Kegelaers is assistant professor in sport and health psychology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. His research focuses on promoting mental health in high performance environments, with projects spanning traditional sports, esports, performing arts, and other demanding performance domains He has coordinated several large scale national and European projects aimed at understanding and promoting mental health within different high performance contexts, including the ‘Dual Careers for Mental Health’Health’(DC4MH), MENTiS and the ongoing Good Game and EUPHORIA projects Next to his work in high performance environments, Jolan is also leading the SMARTS project, focused on co designing a novel sports based mental health promotion intervention targeted at vulnerable youth In 2017 he received the FEPSAC Young Researcher Award Alongside his academic work, Dr Kegelaers applies his expertise as performance psychologist with the Flemish Judo Federation