Exponential growth of Champions Network™ training in trauma-informed and sport-based therapies is helping address the youth mental health crisis.
The winners of Fast Company’s 2022 World Changing Ideas Awards were announced yesterday, honoring clean technology, innovative corporate initiatives, brave new designs for cities and buildings, and other creative works that are supporting the growth of positive social innovation, tackling social inequality, climate change, and public health crises.
Doc Wayne Youth Services scored an honorable mention in the Wellness category for its Champions Network, an external training program that guides a wide range of organizations and youth development professionals, sharing how to provide trauma-informed, sport-based and equity-focused mental health support in their work with young people.
The goal is to catalyze a movement to make sport-based mental health services accessible to youth across the globe. Through this innovative approach, Doc Wayne has trained people and organizations in 25 countries impacting the lives of over 100,000 youth and growing.
Now in its sixth year, the World Changing Ideas Awards showcase 39 winners, 350 finalists, and more than 600 honorable mentions—with climate, social justice, and AI and data among the most popular categories. A panel of eminent Fast Company editors and reporters selected winners and finalists from a pool of more than 2,997 entries across transportation, education, food, politics, technology, health, social justice, and more. In addition, several new categories have been added this year including climate, nature, water, and workplace. The 2022 awards feature entries from across the globe, from Switzerland to Hong Kong to Australia.
“As more elite athletes like Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka, Rory McIlroy, and Brandon Brooks normalize the importance of acknowledging and prioritizing mental health, younger people will be influenced to do the same,” noted David Cohen, CEO of Doc Wayne. “Getting the right tools into their hands to help them succeed is a world changing idea whose time is now.”
“We are consistently inspired by the novelty and creativity that people are applying to solve some of our society’s most pressing problems, from shelter to the climate crisis. Fast Company relishes its role in amplifying important, innovative work to address big challenges,” says David Lidsky, interim editor-in-chief of Fast Company. “Our journalists have identified some of the most ingenious initiatives to launch since the start of 2021, which we hope will both have a meaningful impact and lead others to join in being part of the solution.”
About the World Changing Ideas Awards: World Changing Ideas is one of Fast Company’s major annual awards programs and is focused on social good, seeking to elevate finished products and brave concepts that make the world better. A panel of judges from across sectors choose winners, finalists, and honorable mentions based on feasibility and the potential for impact. With the goals of awarding ingenuity and fostering innovation, Fast Company draws attention to ideas with great potential and helps them expand their reach to inspire more people to start working on solving the problems that affect us all.
About Doc Wayne
Doc Wayne is an award-winning non-profit that has pioneered the leading approach of sport-based therapy and catalyzed a mental health movement. We provide training, tools, and services that address emotional, behavioral, traumatic, racial, gender, and cultural-based barriers by providing equitable access to better mental health for all. Our clinician-led curricula puts sport into practice, strengthening social-emotional skills in young learners to build healthier, more resilient global communities.
