E-Motion and Common Goal Team Up to Launch the “Create the Space” Audio Series

A New Way to Move With Loss: The Create the Space Audio Series

We started E-Motion with a simple belief: no one should have to grieve alone. Since 2023, we've launched Grief Movement Communities, trained volunteer facilitators, and walked alongside grievers in cities across the country. But grief doesn't only live in designated support spaces — it lives in locker rooms, sidelines, and the organizations that show up every day for young people in vulnerable communities.

That's what drew us to Common Goal, and to the important work we're sharing today.

A few weeks ago, something we built together behind the scenes went out into the world: the Create the Space Audio Series. We wanted to take a moment to share what it is, how it came to be, and why it means so much to us.

What the Series Is

The Create the Space Audio Series is a self-guided listening experience designed for young people — created to meet them in the moments that matter most. Featuring athletes who have been open about their own experiences with mental health and loss — including Naomi Girma, Becky Sauerbrunn, Jessie Fleming, Meghan Klingenberg, Vivianne Miedema, Jasmyne Spencer, Ann Cook, and FOX Sports analyst and former U.S. Men's National Team player Stu Holden — each episode weaves together personal stories with reflections on presence, steadiness, and connection.

The series was designed to be listened to in motion — on the way to practice, cooling down after a game, or in the quiet in-between moments of the day — meeting young people wherever they are. The invitation is simple: to move with what feels hard, not past it. From athlete to athlete. From person to person. 

🎧 Listen to all episodes on Spotify here. 

How it fits into the bigger picture

The audio series is part of the next phase of Create the Space — a multi-year mental and emotional health initiative that E-Motion has been building alongside Common Goal, with support from the Oak Foundation and FOX Sports. The initiative is grounded in a clear point of view: while clinical mental health services remain essential, the systems surrounding young people every day — their teams, coaches, and organizations — must also become spaces that actively support wellbeing.

Alongside the series, Create the Space has been working with an Organizational Leaders Cohort — bringing together ten soccer-for-good organizations from across Canada, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, and the United States for a ten-week learning experience built around E-Motion's grief-conscious, movement-based philosophy and approach. The goal: to help coaches, staff, and leaders embed relational care into their everyday work — and to give young people tools to move with loss and hardship rather than past it, both on and off the pitch.

The early results have been meaningful:

- 100% of cohort members feel ready to respond to loss with care rather than urgency to fix

- 64% increased their readiness to respond to community hardship

- 71% feel more equipped to support coaches and staff in mental and emotional wellbeing

Why this work matters to us

E-Motion has always believed that grief support belongs everywhere — not only in designated grief support programs, but woven into the fabric of the communities and institutions that hold us. The community organizations that are part of this cohort are often the most consistent, trusted presence in a young person's life. Create the Space is designed to honor that, and to give those organizations the tools to show up in the moments that really matter. 

"At its best, soccer already holds so much of what we need to take care of ourselves and each other. Our partnership with Common Goal gave us the opportunity to elevate athlete voices that are honest, deeply human, and willing to speak to the parts of life we don't talk about enough. As the world gathers around the game, we hope this series becomes a source of steadiness and connection for anyone who needs the reminder that they are not alone."

— Myra Sack, Founder & Executive Director, E-Motion

If the series moves something in you — or someone you know — we hope it's a reminder that you don't have to carry it alone. We're here, and we're in motion alongside you.