Champions Network
The Champions Network® is Doc Wayne’s external training program. We partner with a range of organizations, clinicians, sports coaches, and other youth development professionals and explain how to include trauma-informed, sport-based, mental health support in their work with young people.
Mission
- Professionalize sport-based therapy
- Extend Doc Wayne’s reach across the country & globe
- Support More Youth & Families Facing Mental Health Challenges
Vision
- Professionalizing the field of sport-based therapy
- Providing mental health training support to organizations worldwide to amplify their impact (and our secondary impact)
- Decreasing the stigma around mental health and empower youth-focused professionals to triage appropriate mental health situations and refer to professionals when possible
- Professionalizing sport-based youth development from a training/holistic development of youth angle
- Creating a skilled workforce to address mental health through the major youth sports entities globally
Our Learning Space
- Interactive and conversation-driven training
- Space that honors all intersectional identities and lived experiences
- Curated content from Masters Level clinicians, led by experienced sport-based therapy youth workers
- Space that fosters social connection and group knowledge sharing in an inclusive, stigma-free way
What We Offer
Who can participate in training?
Our training related to trauma-informed sport and Doc Wayne’s innovative curriculum, Creating Champions®, are available for individuals and organizations.
Why sport-based therapy?
Sport-based therapy is a viable option for youth who may not progress in traditional talk therapy and has shown to be as effective as traditional outpatient therapy.
What is the purpose of the training?
Our goal is to make dramatic changes in how youth is served, where everyone has a standardized understanding of mental health issues, where cultural disparities are addressed, and open conversations can occur freely.
The Champions Network® workshop on trauma-informed care coaches you on identifying the root behind a youth’s behavior and creating a space that is comfortable for the youth you work with – one that is inclusive and understanding of trauma histories.
Our inclusive space for trainees:
- Focuses on Behavioral and Mental Health for Youth in Sports
- Honors intersectional identities and lived experiences as they relate to mental health and youth
- Fosters social connection and group knowledge to youth by sharing in an inclusive, stigma-free way
Creating Champions Level 1 (Coach & Clinician Track)
To equip as many youth workers, coaches, professionals, and organizations by:
- Three-Day training course for youth development professionals to learn how to create a framework to address mental health and trauma symptoms they encounter with youth
- Developing the baseline skills necessary to independently plan and co-facilitate sport-based therapy sessions in their context
- Using a curated curriculum from Masters Level clinicians, led by experienced sports-based therapy youth development professionals
- Supporting more youth development professionals who work with families facing mental health challenges
- Extending Doc Wayne’s reach across the globe
To give individual and curated mentoring to current or previous trainees:
- The Champions Network™ Facilitators provide flexible hours to assist and strategize with youth development professionals
- Coaching & Consultation available on the topics of Mental Health, Sport, Trauma-Informed Care, Re-Entry to Play, and specialized topics for specific contexts
- Flex Hours are offered for additional support following workshops to aid implementation
- Flex Hours are required for Credentialing training to ensure your team can confidently include sports-based therapy in your clinical practice.
We provide specialized training on a variety of topics through the lens of sport-based therapy:
- Curated training designed for a specific context with a clinical lens
- Supporting the Mental Health of Athletes of Color in Youth Sports
- Supporting LGBTQ+ Youth in Sports
- Please reach out for collaboration to meet specific needs
Our sincere thanks to the training you conducted for our young coaches and athletes. We at Far East Basketball Association [F.E.B.A] are very much grateful and full of happiness since the training was very informative to the participants. To many [of our coaches], it was an eye-opener towards mental health approach.
Every child globally has mental health.
We want to equip partner organizations to be part of a system that is a network of youth providers that provide youth services in the sports context.
Together, we break the stigma of mental health in sports.