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Ewert Features on Mindful Monday for Rapids

Soccer Chaplains United’s Director of Counseling, Brooke Ewert, recently took part in an interview series with the Colorado Rapids. With the month of May being known as Mental Health Month, the Rapids have been doing a series, entitled, Mindful Monday. The interview style stories on the website featured Brooke and others working in the field of mental health and sport. Read the interview here.

Part of the vision of Soccer Chaplains United is to work closely with counselors in order to provide necessary clinical interventions that support the whole person. While chaplains often provide spiritual help and support, there are times when it is important to refer the athletes, coaches, staff, and their family members on to a trusted counselor to help provide mental health and well-being.

You can learn more about how counseling integrates with chaplaincy, here.

Congress Reflections

This week, I asked our Director of Counseling, Brooke Ewert to share some of her own reflections following on from the 2nd Global Congress on Sport and Christianity. In her own words,

“This past week was the 2nd Global Congress on Sport and Christianity in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This was my first time attending this conference. After processing through the week when I returned home, I felt so incredibly blessed to be in the same room with so many Christians who work in the sports world. To be honest, I often feel alone because there are not many people who specialize in sports like I do with sports counseling.”

“I was encouraged to hear from those who work in sports as academics, historians, mental health professionals, and chaplains. Each person focused on helping athletes or studying them to help them in a more holistic way. The camaraderie that came from being in the ‘same field’ bonded us together quickly. I felt many people I interacted with quickly became friends and we tried to figure out how we can best help each other in our respective fields of work.”

“A few moments stuck out to me from the conference. First, I met women in my own field (mental health) who encouraged me in my own work with athletes in mental health. Second, I was gleaning information from the speakers who look at sports differently than me and how that can help me to be a better practitioner. I felt inspired by many of those speakers who helped me to see how sports and faith can be weaved together in a beautiful bond. I am already looking forward to the next meeting of the congress in three years and I cannot wait to have a few more sports counselors attending with me.“

Thank you for your support of Soccer Chaplains United. Your financial gifts and support help make continuing education opportunities like the Congress a reality — whether for a chaplain or counselor. It is helpful in shaping our work and direction.

If you would like to make gift to cover expenses or future opportunities for training and education, you can click the PushPay logo below or simply text Soccerchaplains to 77977. Or send your donation via mail to: Soccer Chaplains United, PO Box 102081, Denver, CO 80250.

Thank you for your consideration and support.

New Director of Counseling Announced

It is my privilege to announce Brooke Ewert as the new Director of Counseling for Soccer Chaplains United. Brooke has been with Soccer Chaplains United for over two years, serving with the different needs in the Denver, CO area. With our expanded view to grow the counseling network for Soccer Chaplains United, this represents a major step toward insuring that the development of the counseling can move at a similar pace as the chaplaincy side of things.

I am excited to take on this new role with SCU. I believe there is a great need for mental health counseling within the soccer community. I look forward to aligning these two critical ministries within SCU. 

As Director, Brooke will be responsible to help on the discovery and development of the network and speak into some of the organizational and structural pieces for the counseling. Namely, the sliding scale structure for fees and the counseling subsidy that is for the people who can least afford counseling.

Brooke will also prioritize the cities and teams where a strong chaplaincy presence for Soccer Chaplains United already exists. Many of whom, already have some local relationships with counselors and make referrals, but the goal will be to develop a more formal relationship between chaplains and counselors to address the many critical issues facing people within the soccer community.

We are already beginning to work with various chaplains throughout the county to help them to identify Christian counselors who are familiar and understand the mental health issues that affect athletes. We are currently working with chaplains in Portland, Charlotte, and Nashville to put in place a counselor to come alongside of them and to help identify athletes who need mental health support. 

I do think that in the future we will need to discern whether a spin off organization will better suit the development and unique needs for the counselors in this space, but for now it is important to continue linking the chaplains and counselors together. And Soccer Chaplains United is one of the only sports organizations that is doing this pioneering work!

Over the past two years, I have become more convinced that chaplains and counselors are necessary partners. The strategic objective is to train up our chaplains to early identify mental health needs and to have a local sports counselor available to assist. 

Soccer Chaplains United is non-profit, 501(c)3 and depends upon the financial support of our partners to carry out our work of developing chaplaincy, counseling, and community service across all levels of soccer. Please consider making a contribution today to help us continue growing our work.

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