To start the New Year the entire Liverpool Ladies FC squad took part in the Professional Foootballer’s Association’s (PFA) career transition workshop, ‘Take Control’.Mirroring the content delivered to members in the men’s game, delegates learn the importance of creating a vision about how life after football might look and then planning and preparing for this through undertaking further training and qualifications and networking.
Finances are part of the plan and of utmost importance is health and wellbeing. A psychometric profiling exercise and mock interviews also provide an interactive element in the two hour workshop delivered by PFA Education representative, Paul Raven.
After discussions about the importance of continual professional development (CPD) alongside core educational and vocational qualifications – particularly around current issues both in the game and society in general – 17 of the squad returned to the classroom three weeks later to start a Level 2 qualification in Mental Healt Awareness provided by the PFA Education Department, at no cost to the participants.The short four-to-six week distance learning course will provide participants with ample evidence to ensure that they are aware of mental health issues, how to identify signs of poor mental health and where to signpost those identified to.We hope to speak to one or two of those players once they have completed their qualification, to find out how the skills and lessons they have learned in both the workshop and the course, have made them view their career and are perhaps being applied to think about themselves and those around them.
