Nairobi — The National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) has signed an agreement with the Chiromo Hospital Group that will see the Level 5 specialized mental health hospital extend its services to Kenyan athletes in a campaign dubbed Tufunguke Wanaspoti.
The purpose of the MOU is to establish a collaborative agreement between NOC-K and CHG in the provision of promotive, preventive, and curative mental health services to Kenyan sportsmen and women.
The campaign will see the sportsmen and women trained on how to identify, control and manage mental health-related conditions; build awareness by way of structured mental health talks as well as carry out digitized self-mental health wellness assessments.
“This is a very defining moment for us at the National Olympic Committee of Kenya because we are marking another milestone in our partnership development with strategic stakeholders that add value to our athletes and assist them to perform optimally in their specialties,” said NOC-K’s Secretary-General, Francis Mutuku.
The signing of the agreement is a massive boost for sportspeople especially coming at a time when mental health has been hugely highlighted as one of the struggles athletes go through.
Cases of athletes going into depression have been on the rise not only in Kenya but worldwide, and the signing of the agreement is a first step into averting any possible crises.
During the recently held Tokyo 2020 Olympics, NOC-K enhanced the services to the athletes by providing a range of technical personnel to complement the work of coaches and other athlete entourage teams in the areas of sports science, strength and conditioning, nutrition, and sports psychologist, among others.
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The team travelled to the Olympic Games with a sports scientist as well as sports psychologist Kanyali Ilako.
“This actually is a bit late and should have come much earlier. The pressure to perform will be big this year with Commonwealth Games and Africa Youth Games around the corner,” said Shadrack Maluki, the NOC-K first vice president.
NOC-K and Chiromo Hospital Group have already begun working in collaboration and started with a seminar of sports administrators from federations trained on safeguarding athletes during the administration courses and workshop where mental health issues were addressed.
“Having stayed with athletes in Rift Valley, I know this partnership will help them represent our nation better. We have protective mechanisms before curative mechanisms. Our slogan, recovery with dignity, means we hold our clients and family with high honor, and it’s an honor to join Team Kenya and ensure athletes are taken care of,” said Chiromo Hospital Group CEO Vincent Hongo.
