Country Football WA are thrilled to announce the winner of the State 2024 TYF Community Champion Award for WA is Carrissa Bellottie from the Great Northern Football League (GNFL).

As League President, Carrissa has led significant changes through the GNFL across the past few seasons and in 2024, placed a key focus on driving the Tackle Your Feelings program for local clubs and the broader Midwest community.

A key highlight was Carrissa’s leadership role to drive engagement in the Think Mental Health & Tackle Your Feelings Midwest Roadshow through Carnarvon and Geraldton. Further to the Midwest Roadshow, Carrissa worked with Country Football WA to provide clubs with Think Mental Health resources in the lead up to Think Mental Health round and promoted key messages across the GNFL Facebook page.

Tackle Your Feelings is a free mental health training program for community football players and coaches, as well as committee members, umpires and other club support staff. The program is delivered by a local psychologist and aims to help participants gain the tools to Understand, Recognise and Respond to signs of mental ill-health in their players.

The following criteria was used to determine the winner of the award.

• Driven engagement with Tackle Your Feelings at club level
• Supported the mental health of a person or group of people
• Promoted a culture of safety and inclusion
• Implemented initiatives to develop mental health infrastructure within the club (e.g. appointing a wellbeing coordinator)
• Shared their own experiences in a safe way to help others
• Completed additional mental health education
• Led a mental health promotion activity
• Raised funds for a mental health charity

Carrissa has taken out this award for her ability to drive and implement structural change in her role as League president, organising mental health education, along with fostering a culture of inclusivity, support, and community within the League and wider Midwest Community.

If your club or community is interested to engage in the Tackle Your Feelings program, please get in touch  or email countryfootballwa@wafc.com.au.