All eyes on the prize in Port Macquarie – and it’s worth more than the trophy

The Cup is the Mid North Coast’s signature event for World Mental Health Month, and it aims to promote connection and inclusion. Driven by Neami National, an NGO mental health and wellbeing service, the Cup was first held in 2019 and has grown dramatically ever since.

“Sport has a unique way of breaking down barriers and sparking conversations,” said Neami Mid North Coast service manager Cherie Caltabiano. “The Neami Community Cup uses soccer as a way to bring people together, celebrate community spirit and encourage open conversations about mental health.”

Speaking to the Advocate, Caltabiano said it was not unheard of for some of the people she supports to struggle to leave the house because they feared local judgment and a lack of understanding of their mental health diagnosis, so an event such as the Community Cup is vital in letting those people know they are accepted.

“The people that we support in the community, this makes them feel very seen and heard and makes them feel like their community is actually a safe space for them to be able to be themselves, to not be afraid of saying, ‘Yeah, hey, I’ve got a mental health diagnosis’, which goes a long way,” she said.

“Days like the Neami Cup are when people in community come together to show their support of mental health and to talk about it and let others know it’s really okay, there’s lots of us; we all have our own mental health, good, bad or not.”

The event has also grown into a powerful way for Neami’s staff to build relationships with other sectors, forming communities of care that make the difficult work easier when it matters.

“We’ve got 35 organisations joining us this year, and because it’s such a fun event and we’re all kicking a ball and having a laugh, it builds strong relationships so that down the track we can refer to each other,” she said.

“We’re not all funded to do the same jobs. Sometimes I can support someone with a mental health diagnosis, but they may also need some legal help or some help with domestic and family violence, or there are different drug and alcohol bodies. Having all the people together on the same day builds those relationships so that I can go, ‘Oh hey, such and such, I met you at the Neami Cup; I need to refer someone in, what do you need from me?’ It just builds that relationship where we can all work together and collaborate.”

Caltabiano said it used to be that there would be 16 teams and a few food or exhibition stalls, taking weeks to all commit to the event, whereas this year, 16 teams signed up in just over one day, and there will also be raffles, mini games, a door prize, a barbecue, coffee, and awards for best-dressed team, best-dressed stall and most valuable player. She hopes the Cup will become an event for other towns and states to emulate, so successful is it in the Port Macquarie region.

But really, it’s not about trophies. The Cup sees school teams, community groups, service providers and families unite in the goal of breaking down barriers to talking about mental health.

More information

https://www.neaminational.org.au/services/neami-mid-north-coast/

Neami offers place-based and individually tailored support to people struggling with mental health and wellbeing challenges. It has more than 70 services across Australia and helps more than 34,000 people, mostly in New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia. It also provides homelessness services, youth and family services, and suicide prevention services.