Tackling mental health through football
It's time to talk: Mental illness doesn't pick sides
Everyone needs someone on their side as life, like football, is full of emotions which makes the importance of acknowledging a mental health issue more prevalent.
The need to recognise that adversities and challenges around the stigma can be overcome is increasing within football, but there’s a need for more funding to move the goalposts further especially as mental illness doesn’t pick sides.
Statistics and facts courtesy of MIND Charity showing that approximately 1 in 4 people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year.
Statistics and facts courtesy of MIND Charity showing that approximately 1 in 4 people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year.
Founder of 'Swaggarlicious' Manisha Tailor MBE, 39, from London is a leading advocate for mental health awareness, which was fuelled by becoming a young carer for her twin brother who developed mental health through severe bullying at school. The educator, speaker, football coach and author initiated the Wingate & Finchley Football Club Disabled Fans Forum - initially run as 'Simply Being' in 2015 - to use football as a tool to engage adults with a disability and increase their opportunity for community cohesion and ultimately, tackle mental health.
“Wingate already had a programme running so when I approached the club, it was really a case of using some of the existing programme and then seeing how we can develop it which we did through the fans for diversity funding,” she said. “What that did was allow us to run the programme over a number of years alongside other private funding through a fundraiser, where we could run the programme initially once a month and then once a week. We then partnered with Middlesex County who provided a coach to help facilitate sessions. The good thing about Wingate is they offered free tickets to the care workers as well as the participants and for some of them, it was the first time that they had ever engaged in football, went to a stadium or a live game.”
The project came to a halt due to a lack of funding and where care is more accessible at a particular age, once a sufferer doesn’t fall into that category there’s a reliance on trying to seek support independently. There’s a lack of provision generally for adults with mental health and disabilities to access due to a shortfall of resource.
Tailor said it would be beneficial if money was put into specific programmes within clubs to almost stipulate that the funding goes into eradicating the taboo, but feels the conversation is starting to become more widespread within the football pyramid – kicking off with greater accountability from governing bodies.
“It was a way of creating friendships, cohesion and having fun.
“Ultimately, the better somebody feels the more positive their mental health and wellbeing will be.
“The good thing about football is that it’s a universal sport and it allows everybody to participate. This project was a vehicle to do that.
According to MIND Charity, research shows that being active can reduce the risk of depression by up to 30%.
According to MIND Charity, research shows that being active can reduce the risk of depression by up to 30%.
“I continue to speak with Wingate and seeing how we can continue the adult project and hopefully, we can find alternative ways due to the lack of funding to at least have something that adults can access.
“We’re in a place now where governing bodies, charities and communities are being advocates to creating dialogue and open discussions around it. If we can continue to do that it can help eradicate the stigma, but I think that’s going to take a long time because there is still a taboo. People have a fear on how they are perceived, feeling shame, wondering how people might react and not wanting to be a burden on others.
“I think that they are doing what they can at the moment. They are getting ambassadors on board, there’s courses now to help people in sport engage in having a better understanding of what mental health looks like and how they can help their participants. I think the more they do, people will feel comfortable to speak out loud and hopefully those with Paralympic influence can have a greater impact, purely because of the fact people will listen to them.
“People need to feel as though they are not going to get labelled or feel that they won’t be treated any differently if they were to say that they have any form of a mental health condition.”
Statistics and facts courtesy of MIND Charity showing that in England, 1 in 6 people report experiencing a common mental health problem such as anxiety and depression in any given week.
Statistics and facts courtesy of MIND Charity showing that in England, 1 in 6 people report experiencing a common mental health problem such as anxiety and depression in any given week.
People on a certain platform have the power to be spokespeople and Tailor knows first-hand that mental health doesn’t just affect the person suffering, it affects everyone around them. That’s why for someone who developed resilience and perseverance through her own journey, she set-up ‘Child In Mind’ which is a project for children that helps them to engage in discussion around wellbeing, mental health and their feelings.
As alluded to, one in four will experience a mental health problem, with one in ten of those being young people.
“It will become embodied in their culture and in their lifestyle as they are growing up, which eventually can eradicate the taboo and stigma around talking about it,” she continued. “Ultimately what you want is for young people to find different strategies to manage how they feel, particularly in challenging and adverse situations. Some of the mental health conditions manifest through not being able to - or finding it challenging to - manage these negative emotions. If we can equip young people to do that then hopefully, they can be in a better place to be able to cope, or at the very least go and seek support.”
Wingate & Finchley Football Club teamed up with Manisha Tailor MBE of Swaggarlicious Ltd to address the importance of raising awareness of mental health struggles and why there is no shame in speaking out.
“This subject needs to be embodied within the culture of how we live and become part of our moral compass, but the responsibility of that relies on the individuals and organisations.”
In a poll taken on social media, 53% of people (from 55 votes) said more funding is needed from football governing bodies to eradicate the stigma around mental health.
In a poll taken on social media, 53% of people (from 55 votes) said more funding is needed from football governing bodies to eradicate the stigma around mental health.
Phoenix Rising Youth Football Club coach Emmanuel Otira (pictured), 29, now residing in Arizona, USA assisted Tailor with the Wingate & Finchley FC Disabled Fans Forum sessions and said his motivation in-between travels was to fulfil a personal satisfaction.
“As a schoolboy, my coach did something similar on Sunday evening's in Mill Hill and it definitely moulded me in some way to give back,” he said. “Since coming to America, I have been involved in TOPSoccer - again a very similar project.”
The 'Outreach Programme for Soccer' is a community-based training programme which has no boundaries and is open to all children who may have an intellectual, emotional or physical disability.
Whether coaching in Finchley or America, Coach 'Manny' said programmes which offer a platform for those perceived to be on the outside looking in is very rewarding as it has challenged him to coach differently.
“Without dropping my standards, I was able to coach technique albeit more broken down.
“It was a real eye opener to see the participants come alive and positively react to my methods.”
When we talk about mental health, we’re not just talking about something negative - there’s positive mental health too. Otira believes it’s often overlooked and thinks America, just like England, needs to tackle the issue head on.
Statistics and facts courtesy of Mental Health America showing that nearly 1 in 5 American adults will have a diagnosable mental health condition in any given year.
Statistics and facts courtesy of Mental Health America showing that nearly 1 in 5 American adults will have a diagnosable mental health condition in any given year.
“There is the stigma attached which is usually centred around the worst-case scenario. I believe people hear mental illness and perceive the extreme side of the spectrum.
“As an example, growing up you couldn’t be sad for no reason. It was seen as a sign of weakness.
“It is not talked about as widely and treatments often overlook the benefits of an active lifestyle and eating habits. Vitamin D is proven to be a great treatment for depression, largely gained from the sunlight and diet.
“At the minute in any course, in any profession, concussion protocol is the hot topic. Until someone brings mental illness to the forefront again, the country will highlight other issues.
“There are only a few organisations that are placing programmes together to help mentally challenged people participate in soccer.”
Football isn’t just kicking a ball with your feet; it has the platform to make people feel they can comfortably express themselves freely and openly. If more breakthrough programmes around mental health materialise within football clubs at all levels, then it will be easier to spot that mental health is what people have but it doesn’t define who they are.
“There has never been enough funding,” he added. “All of western society spend billions funding war and facilitating planned pharmaceuticals - pills that do not cure but keep having to take - while marginalised societies are left to fend for themselves. I feel the governments fail in funding, whether willingly or ignorantly.”
Statistics and facts courtesy of Mental Health America showing 9 million adults with mental illness report they try and can't get treatment making that 20.6% of adults.
Statistics and facts courtesy of Mental Health America showing 9 million adults with mental illness report they try and can't get treatment making that 20.6% of adults.
“The ability to participate in sport, in some capacity, should be available to everyone.
“We as coaches need to make that opportunity available more often. From personal experience, it helps greatly even for that short period of time and gives people something to look forward to.”
Built with Shorthand