Former AFL player Jarrod Harbrow has launched a new Gold Coast-based program aimed at helping young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander athletes progress both in sport and away from it.

The Gold Coast First Nations Sports Academy will provide a 12-month development program for emerging male and female athletes across a range of sports.

Through Harbrow Mentoring, the academy will work alongside athletes' existing clubs and coaches, with a focus on providing support in areas including strength and conditioning, nutrition, physiotherapy, career planning, financial education, leadership and cultural mentoring.

Harbrow told Zero Hanger the idea came from seeing talented young athletes who needed greater support around them while trying to reach higher levels.

"I identified a need, particularly on the Gold Coast, for young First Nations male and female athletes who need a bit more wrap-around support to help them get to the next level in their chosen sport," he said.

The former Western Bulldogs and Gold Coast Suns defender has drawn on his own experiences of leaving Cairns as a teenager to pursue an AFL career.

Harbrow said greater off-field guidance would have helped him during his own development.

"I would have liked to have been able to be a part of an academy to help when it comes to upskilling myself, professionalism, education, fast-tracking my development, everything I needed off field," he told Zero Hanger.

"This is a passion project, really.

"This is just something that I've identified over a number of years, and I've seen a lot of talented kids come through. But then we all know they're talented, but there's so much more that goes on inside their personal lives and other challenges that they face that, for whatever reason, just aren't able to continue down that pathway and heading in sort of the right direction, and then they drop off."

The academy is not designed to replace sporting clubs or provide athletes with additional coaching in their chosen sport.

Instead, Harbrow wants the program to fill some of the gaps around athletes as they navigate representative and development pathways.

"We've made it pretty clear that we don't help with any selection, or we're not going to help with their on-field coaching because that's what their coaches in their chosen sport are there for," he said.

The inaugural intake is expected to feature between 10 and 12 athletes, who will meet once or twice each month for workshops and sessions with professionals from different fields.

Some participants may also be eligible for sporting or education scholarships through the program.

Harbrow played 264 AFL games across 15 seasons with the Bulldogs and Suns before retiring in 2021.

He remains involved with Gold Coast as the club's Indigenous Programs Coordinator and said the new academy was about giving young First Nations athletes the support needed to make the most of their opportunities.

"The next generation of First Nations athletes starts here," Harbrow wrote in announcing the program on LinkedIn.