The EFL and all EFL Clubs have once again come together with charity partner, Mind, to collectively mark World Mental Health Day on Saturday 10th October.
With Mind’s latest research revealing that more than 60% of adults and over two thirds of young people (68%) felt their mental health deteriorated during the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown, encouraging conversations around our own mental health and that of others has never been more important.
Mind’s recently launched the ‘Do One Thing’ campaign with aims to inspire people to make one small change or take one action to look after their mental health. As part of the campaign, EFL Clubs took part in the ‘Do One Thing’ campaign in order to say thank you to someone deserving within their local communities.
This year for World Mental Health Day we collaborated with Crawley Town FC to support our ‘Tackling Loneliness Together’ participants through this difficult period.
As part of the World Mental Health delivery we visited Eric, (TLT participant) and presented him with a signed Crawley Town FC replica shirt.
In addition to the signed shirt, two first team players Sam Matthews and Sam Ashford made phone calls to three of our newer participants to catch up and see how they are coping throughout this period of isolation.
As part of the new EFL Trust project, (Tackling Loneliness Together) we are offering support to those that may be experiencing loneliness in Crawley. This is through a variety of different COVID-19 friendly activities, to support the mental wellbeing of participants, based on their preferences.
These activities include –
· Befriending Phone Calls
· Garden Gate Visits
· Newsletters
· Online Coffee Mornings (Extra Time Hubs)
· Walk & Talk Sessions
Darren Ford, Community Development Manager at Crawley Town Community Foundation explained why Tackling Loneliness is so important at this time, “Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic there has been a raised awareness of the levels of loneliness and social isolation.
This isn’t a new social problem, it’s unfortunately always been there and in Crawley, there are high levels of loneliness and isolation we are aware of. In the past few months staff have been working hard to support the local community and work towards tackling loneliness and isolation, the feedback from participants has been fantastic and we will continue to tackle loneliness and isolation, as much as we can.”
If you would like to take part in the programme or know a family member or friend who would benefit from the service, please register your interest - https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/QQR7T73
Or contact Darren Ford for more details – darrenford@crawleytownfc.com
