Dr Michael Bennett Email & Phone Number

I have had a 20-year career in English football , and have established an outstanding reputation across all levels of the game. Playing at all levels of the football league has provided me with an invaluable knowledge of the inner workings and operational structure of football in this country, experience that I have endeavoured to apply for the benefit of my fellow pros since my retirement. After playing for clubs including Charlton Athletic, Wimbledon, Brentford, Brighton and England, I transitioned into the area of counselling and Mental Health & Wellbeing.Transitioning to become a psychotherapist, I identified the value of offering to the side of the game that rarely grabs the headlines but is just as affecting to the people it helps. I am an approachable, articulate and engaging individual who currently works with the PFA to promote Mental Health & Wellbeing and raise awareness and education to players. I am respected and an influential figure who professionally represents the aims and ideals of the association, and have learned how to both act in an ambassadorial capacity and contribute at a high level in the decision making, problem solving and strategizing processes. I also have a wealth of experience, a strong commitment to my own self development. I am a proficient counsellor and wellbeing professional with sound working knowledge of a variety of therapies and techniques concerned with client wellness. A competent public speaker and presenter, with media training. I have spent the last fifteen years promoting positive mental health in sports professionals, using methods such as educational workshops and conferences while developing policies and procedures to support player welfare in the game. I have represented the PFA (the professional footballer’s union in the UK) on a host of high-profile debates. I have made representations on reputable media channels including Sky Sports, Sky News, BBC, ITV, CH4, Guardian, Daily Mail, Telegraph, Radio 4/5, TalkSport to name a few. I have devised the first national, locational and international strategic mental health survey, strategies and links with FIFPro, Premier League, English Football League, Football Association. I have delivered three national conferences ' INJURED'. I have uniquely set in place the first ever national link with the NHS England clinical lead for mental health that focuses on a player’s needs lead approach consistent with the Care Act 2014 and the Mental Health Act 1983/20017.I have recently published a couple of journals for the Lancet Psychiatry.

• 

  University Of East Anglia

  Education