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About Us
'What’s Behind the Smile’ has been born from tragedy, sadly, in 2018 one of our rugby players took his own life.
This passing has had a devastating effect within the club, its members, friends and family.
More recently more personal to myself a family member and naval seaman killed himself and again there were no clues… In hindsight there were signs, but no one picked up on them.
The purpose What's Behind the Smile is to offer help to those suffering mental health anguish.
The need to address mental health awareness is greatly important.
We want to help others. We want to make a difference.
What's Behind the Smile are here to help!
We want to raise awareness of mental health issues through the implementation of Mental Health First Aid Training (MHFA).
1 in 8 adults
as well as 1 in 10 young people will experience a mental health issue at any one time during their lifetime.
There are members in our community; now civilians, military and ex-military who face unique challenges and risks to their mental health.
Long periods of time away from family during service, exposure to high stress situations and trauma, and the difficulty of adjusting between military and civilian life; all can impact on the mental health of serving and ex-serving personnel and their families.
The most common ways these stressors impact on members of the armed forces are depression, anxiety, adjustment disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and alcohol misuse.
Over 75%
of the UK people who have killed themselves have been men. Stigma and lack of awareness around our mental health compared to our physical health is often a barrier to armed personnel getting the treatment they need to recover.
We want to empower everyone in the community to meet these challenges head on by equipping them with practical skills; by providing safe environments where counselling, MHFAT and therapies can take place.
Long term we also want to offer support not just to the men and women of the military but their families. Families often get left behind due to the assumption they are ‘fine’. This is not always the case.
Our MHFA training courses will encourage others to help to look for signs; to look out for others and let them know someone cares.
The Mental Health First Aid training will be implemented through not only the military but the sporting arena as many ex service men/women partake in sport after leaving the service. A common sport being rugby.