Bruce Suraci has been Academy Head of Coaching & Development at AFC Bournemouth for the past 5 years and has recently graduated from the EHOC programme. Reaching a ‘rock bottom’ with his own mental health back in 2019 led Bruce on a journey of extensive work on his own mental health and wellbeing, culminating in a complete change of career ambition, away from ‘coaching at an elite professional level’ to ‘improving the wellbeing of a whole generation of players, parents and coaches’. Bruce is also now completing a doctoral project, investigating how to develop mental health literacy in elite coaching.

Bruce will engage us in the statistics and reality of wellbeing across coaching and football, as well as discussing wellbeing patterns, resilience pillars and practical tips and takeaways from research. The intention behind the session will be to raise awareness of Heads of Coaching around their own wellbeing and how growing it may serve as a competitive advantage for them as individuals, the coaches that they work with and for their clubs as organisations.