Fore Your Mind at Cainhoe Wood Golf Club

Fore Your Mind was launched by England Golf in early February, following a successful pilot in Bedfordshire, where Cainhoe Wood’s General Manager Stephanie Andrews was one of the 15 Mental Health First Aiders trained to help people at their respective clubs.

England Golf spoke to Stephanie about the pilot, and the impact it is already having at Cainhoe Wood in supporting golfers…

Why did you become a Mental Health First Aider?

I'm a big mental health advocate and it's always really important for anybody in all walks of life. But especially in my job role, I find that more often than not, I’m walking around, having conversations with people and it would just be good to have the tools to actually realise I can make a difference in the conversation. I know what to do in terms of where I can signpost them to get a bit of help, rather than previously just being able to say, ‘I’m sorry to hear that’. It’s about having a bit of background and confidence in what I can say, to give a bit of support to people, which is really important.

How has the club supported you as a MHFA?

I am very lucky to have a brilliant team here. I have had numerous offers for support and a chat if I need it. Everyone here is fully behind the movement. I’ve had a few members who have also offered their support if I need it, as they have had the training too. Outside of the club, the Bedfordshire Pilot Group for the MHFA training are all on hand for each other to give us all that support if anyone of us needs it, which is incredible. I hope that everyone manages to adopt the same progress in the future.

How did the four weeks of the pilot go?

It's been a great first month. I was really interested in doing the course anyway, but once we got it under our belts, and we introduced it at the club, I just found it very refreshing. It’s had a really good reception. We had some healthy conversations within the staff, the members and our committee. I'm hopeful that this is quite open. It was just an important subject that I feel like we hadn’t talked about yet.

How has the club promoted the fact that they now have a MHFA?

We first announced it in our AGM which was about a week after the training. We have multiple posters around the club, including our advertising TV screens. We have a weekly newsletter that goes out to our members and frequent visitors, and we are making sure to circulate the information on a regular basis too. Plus, I love to talk about the pilot whenever I can, I’ve got the ‘Mental Health First Aider’ badge on my email footer as well. I’m just so proud to be a part of it.

What sort of conversations have you been having?

I've had a lot of general conversations. I've been bringing it up a lot myself and putting posters up and I'm quick to point to it! I have had some deeper conversations. I've had three touching conversations, and one person we have signposted somewhere else and that person, we've touched base again, and they’ve got some support, which I'm really glad about. For the other two, it was a bit of offloading, some general support, which was good and really helpful.

How would you encourage others to take part?

We are realising that mental health and physical health do go hand in hand. So, for your members and your staff, you can't expect them to be at their best when that health is down. We offer normal first aid, so mental health shouldn’t be looked at any differently. I feel like mental health should be looked at in the same way and it's not as taboo as everyone thinks or has been. It would be good to open up that conversation more.

Find out more about England Golf's Fore the Mind initiative, which looks to support better mental health in the golf community - click here. England Golf also launched Golf Fore Her in October 2024 - find out more.