Promoting Positive Mental Health in Portuguese and Brazilian Youth Sport: The Roles and Responsibilities of Policymakers, Coaches, and Coach Developers

Mental health is positioned as a key outcome of organised youth sport participation and is a public health priority around the world. However, discussions on the priority of and intersection between mental health and youth sport are just beginning in some countries. Portugal and Brazil have made efforts to reflect on the current state of sport and have considered initiatives targeting mental health promotion. Therefore, the purpose of the current paper is to advocate for policymakers, coaches, and coach developers to deploy efforts to promote and protect the mental health of youth athletes and expand on possible ways to achieve this. Portugal and Brazil are used as cases to discuss the processes and strategies needed for promoting mental health. These countries were chosen because they share many sociocultural similarities and have few provisions in place for promoting mental health in youth sport. This manuscript is intended to serve as an instigator for creating awareness among decision makers (e.g., policymakers and coach developers), in both countries and across their sport systems, about the relevance of promoting mental health in youth sport. Potential challenges to promoting and protecting mental health are discussed, and practical implications for coaching and coach education are offered.