Premiership Rugby club Harlequins has launched a mental health campaign aimed at building resilience and a sense of wellbeing in young people.

METTLE will be overseen by the Harlequins Foundation – the charitable arm of the club – and will concentrate on equipping coaches with necessary skills to spot and cope with mental health issues in young people.

The programme will educate children and and young people to deal with stressful times and situations, and a mental resilience programme will be trialled in local primary schools from September 2016 before being rolled out in January 2017.

In addition, the Foundation is planning to develop a second pilot for 18-25 year-olds in collaboration with Richmond Borough Mind and South West London NHS Mental Health Trust, as part of Premiership Rugby’s programme funded by Comic Relief.

As part of the initiative, Harlequins has made five pledges: use the power of sport to promote wellbeing; promote positive public health messaging through diverse role models; tackle discrimination; share networks, resources and best practice; monitor performance and assess progress.

“Mental health is an ever growing issue for young people in the UK,” said Harlequins Foundation ambassador Ugo Monye. “We are excited to be launching METTLE, the new mental health campaign, which over the coming years will be the cornerstone of the Harlequins Foundation’s activity and partnerships.”

Harlequins has also become the first professional rugby union club to sign up to the Sport and Recreation Alliance’s Mental Health Charter.