Date: 19 May 2026 Author: Debbie Aslin
Most clubs want to do the right thing.
They’ve got the policies. They’ve done the training. They tick the boxes — and they want to know their welfare work is doing more than ticking boxes.
Fareham Running Club did not start from zero. The club has a Mental Health Ambassador, two Mental Health Champions, and a Support and Mental Well-being Team. They run regular #runandtalk nights — part of England Athletics’ national initiative with Mind, using running to start conversations about mental health. They were already taking welfare seriously.
So when Fareham Running Club came across Energise Me’s Sport Welfare Officer work, they got in touch — not because they were short of welfare provision, but because they wanted to be brilliant at it.
One newsletter. One club. One conversation.
What followed wasn’t a training session or an audit. It was a sustained look at the everyday moments where welfare shows up in club life — the kit-bag chat, the sideline conversation, the post-training debrief, the newsletter that goes to members.
The Club Culture Reflection Tool — a structured way for clubs to look honestly at how welcoming, inclusive and supportive their environment really feels — gave Sue and the club’s committee a shared language for the work.
Sue describes the tool like this:
The Club Culture Reflection Tool isn't a tick-box exercise. It asks clubs to look at the harder questions about who feels at home and who doesn't. The way the club has engaged is exactly the kind of leadership we hoped the pilot would highlight.
Sue Forber, Sport Welfare Officer
The pilot surfaced plenty that Fareham Running Club was already doing well. It also surfaced a gap.
While new starters and beginners had a clear pathway into the club, there was no specific offer for members returning to running after a break — whether for injury, illness, or any of the other reasons life gets in the way. People who used to run with Fareham, who wanted to come back, didn’t always know how.
The club’s response: a new Return to Running session on selected Tuesdays at 18:50, running in parallel with the main club night. A quieter pace. A gradual rebuild of confidence and fitness. A way back in.
Working with Sue and Energise Me has helped us look at how we could be even more inclusive, welcoming and supportive. The toolkit helped us identify a gap in our offer for those who wanted to return to running after taking a break due to injury or time commitments — and we have introduced a new Return to Running session on selected Tuesdays at 18:50, which runs parallel to our usual run club session. This means more people can be welcomed into and brought back to the club and benefit from our strong community
Paula Williams, Club Secretary & Training Coordinator, Fareham Running Club
Sue brings senior leadership experience in mental health to Sport Welfare Officer work — including her previous role as Director of Services at Solent Mind. The fit between an SWO with a mental health background and a club already investing in mental wellbeing is part of what made the pilot land so well.
Safer sport isn’t a compliance exercise. It’s a culture.
A simple framework Sport Welfare Officers use to help clubs look at their everyday welfare practice — not as a checklist, but as a starting point for conversation. Clubs work through it with their Sport Welfare Officer, in their own words, at their own pace.
Sue and Sarah work with clubs of every sport and every size across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Their support is free, friendly and practical.
Helping us tackle inactivity to boost health and happiness
