Mental health through occupational health and safety in high performance sport

Abstract

<p>There is considerable attention devoted to athlete mental health in high-performance sport. The International Society of Sport Psychology seeks to extend this discourse by expanding the discussion through a lens of occupational health and safety (OHS).1 Drawing upon knowledge from OHS, the authors have considered existing mental health challenges as well as proactive and reactive strategies conducive of athlete safety. This position stand is structured into four sections. The authors introduce OHS and its relevance to high-performance sport in the first section. The second section focuses on athlete mental health and the need for an OHS approach within sport organizations. The third section is focused particularly on athlete safety in relation to high-performance youth athletes. The fourth section is a broader ideological discussion of how OHS might vary in approach based on national sport systems and cultural orientation.</p>