Tackle Your Feelings 2025

Since 2016, Tackle Your Feelings has been led by Ireland’s rugby players through their representative body, Rugby Players Ireland. Through their commitment to mental wellbeing, Zurich Ireland proudly supports TYF and empowers it to equip students with essential tools to navigate life’s challenges with confidence and resilience.

1. Foundational growth

From January to July 2025, the TYF team undertook a comprehensive review of the Schools Programme to ensure it was aligned with our long-term strategic goals. As part of onboarding our new digital marketing partners, Outset, an in-depth audit revealed the need for a substantial redesign of the teaching platform and lesson plans. Feedback from teachers, students, and early academic research was integrated into the rebuild, resulting in a more intuitive, credible, and evidence-based learning experience.
This period also included the consolidation of insights from our four-year PhD study and ambassador interviews, which reinforced the importance of authentic storytelling and informed updates to ambassador training. This process was both comprehensive and time-intensive but critical for long-term effectiveness.

2. Engagement and partnerships

While significant development work took place behind the scenes, TYF continued to deepen stakeholder engagement. The team worked closely with Zurich Ireland on advocacy initiatives and also strengthened relationships with schools, community organisations, youth services and fellow mental health and wellbeing advocacy groups. 

3. Strategic positioning

TYF continued to build its reputation as a leading youth mental wellbeing programme across the island of Ireland. A key pillar of this work involved aligning our measurement tools with ZZF’s theory of change and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) standards, ensuring the programme remains academically robust, strengthening the evidence base required for future Department of Education recommendations.

This phase also focused on amplifying TYF’s brand value proposition, enhancing digital presence, and integrating research findings to position TYF as a trusted, credible resource for teachers and students.

4. Platform relaunch and scaling

In October, TYF proudly relaunched its enhanced Schools Platform, marking a significant milestone in achieving a scalable, digitally led model. The upgraded platform supports easier onboarding, improved lesson delivery, and stronger reporting on lives impacted. With nearly 300 schools registered, 134 actively delivering modules, and 30,123 young people reached in 2025, TYF’s scaling efforts demonstrate strong momentum towards its goal of 30% school adoption by 2027. Furthermore, TYF also joined an Educational Coalition and initiated a Mental Health and Wellbeing Coalition, extending influence across the education and wellbeing landscape.