About
Who was Seb?
Seb died by suicide aged 20. He had attended two prestigious rugby-playing schools; he had represented England playing rugby at every age group level and received a contract from Harlequins when he left school. Seb was intelligent and talented academically, was popular with his friends, kind, compassionate and always making people laugh. Above all, Seb loved rugby.
Seb was adored by a loving family…and no one knew anything was wrong.
Seb’s Foundation was established to help other people in his memory. We want to make sure that fewer people feel they cannot share that they are struggling, and fewer families suffer the pain of losing a cherished loved-one.
In addition to our work in mental health first aid, we support young people from disadvantaged families to access the highest quality sporting and academic opportunities.
Passionate about saving and transforming lives
Seb’s Foundation provides interactive seminars to young people to give them a greater understanding of mental health, the skills to recognise if they are struggling and the strategies needed to cope when facing challenges on their adolescent journey.
We deliver Youth Mental Health First Aid training courses for schools, clubs and Premiership academies through MHFA England©. This vital 2-day training equips teachers, pastoral staff, coaches and team managers with the skills to provide wrap-around support for young people in a variety of settings. Creating a safe space for young people to talk and feel seen, heard and that they matter is integral to challenging the stigma and discrimination that exists around mental health.
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Let’s start talking about mental health
It’s okay not to be okay… it’s never okay to not ask for help. We need to create environments where our young people are encouraged to speak out when they are struggling.
We need to talk about suicide.
We particularly need to get men talking, so if changing rooms, school playgrounds and rugby clubs are spaces where people feel safe to share when they are struggling, they are less likely to struggle alone. The more people who are aware of risk factors and signs or symptoms of a mental health crisis, the more we can get them checking in with their children, their teammates and their friends asking ‘Are you ok?’ and then asking again.
75% of suicides are men.
Mental health in the UK
Suicide is the main cause of death in young people under the age of 35 in the UK. Our aim is to provide training to trusted adults in young people’s lives, to prevent mental health symptoms from going unnoticed. We want to enable them to intervene to prevent a condition from worsening and to start conversations so young people feel more able to talk when they are struggling.
1 in 5 young people (aged 13 – 18) will develop a mental illness in their lifetime, but sufficient funding is not currently available to schools and sports clubs to train their staff.
Research shows that with appropriate intervention and support, suicide by young people can be prevented. A large percentage of suicides will be due to untreated depression, and we aim to provide adults with the skills to identify risk factors, early signs and symptoms of poor mental health and the tools to signpost these young people appropriately to get the help they need.
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Waiting lists for Child and Adult Mental Health Services (CAMHS) are longer than they have ever been
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Nearly 1 million children (949,200) were referred for help in 2022/23 which represents almost 8% of the child population
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The annual report on children’s mental health found that almost 305,000 (32%) children and young people referred to mental health services received support. However, 28% (270,300) were still waiting for support from mental health services, while 39% (372,800) had their referral closed before accessing support
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Teachers and sports coaches are trusted adults for so many children – they are so well placed to spot signs, symptoms and early behaviours that may indicate poor mental health or the start of a mental health crisis. If they receive appropriate training, and ‘look beyond the behaviour’ we could signpost young people for help earlier and give those adults the tools to better support our young people and prevent these illnesses from getting worse