Junior and Tru Talent support workshop at St Mark's

Stanislas spoke to pupils about how football relates to mental health and well-being before taking part in an enlightening question-and-answer session about his playing career.

The event was staged by the AFC Bournemouth Community Sports Trust and supported by one of their official partners, Tru Talent, who sponsor the mental health and well-being workshops.

Currently in their second season in partnership with the trust, Tru Talent is a recruitment agency in Bournemouth with great industry knowledge and a wealth of experience.

Children’s mental health week, organised by Place2B Charity, this year encouraged people to connect with others in healthy, rewarding and meaningful ways.

The schools’ project is designed to encourage young people to talk openly around the topic and AFC Bournemouth ambassador Stanislas explained how good mental health and well-being had helped him throughout his career.

The sessions aim to explore the emotions of the pupils, while educating children about how to maintain and improve their mental health and well-being.

Steve Cuss, who heads the AFC Bournemouth Community Sports Trust, said: “Mental health and well-being are very important topics and workshops like this can help make sure we look after our children.

“There’s a big focus around children’s mental health and well-being and they are subjects we feel very strongly about at AFC Bournemouth through our workshops which we deliver all year round.

“We brought together both year 6 classes at St Mark’s and it was a fantastic experience for all involved to have Junior Stanislas here. The questions asked by the children were excellent.

“Tru Talent are a really strong partner for our mental health workshops and we’re really pleased to be able to work with them throughout the year. Like all our partners, we’re really grateful for their support.”

Tru Talent managing director Toni Taylor added: “Seeing the AFCB Community Sports Trust team deliver the mental health and well-being workshops first-hand is always an absolute pleasure and to see the impact this project has on the children and how well received this is by them is honestly just incredible to see!

“It really highlights the importance of running this project and how important it is to support the younger generation to have a better understanding of how to deal with these challenges if or when they may be faced with them!”