The project

The Coping Through Football project is an initiative that demonstrates how two sporting charities, London Playing Fields Foundation (LPFF) and Leyton Orient   Trust (LOT), can work with the NHS to produce a sustainable recovery approach to engage with and improve the wellbeing of adults and young people experiencing mental health issues.

Aims

The project shows how sport can:

• help tackle stigma and discrimination
• can work together with the health sector on shared agendas to reduce inequalities
• be a tool for engagement with hard to reach groups
• assist in the recovery of those experiencing mental health issues

The aim is to use the football experience to improve fitness, increase levels of self-esteem and confidence, make new friends and help people get their lives back on track. We do not see ourselves as a football project, but a social inclusion project that uses football as a tool to engage individuals experiencing mental health problems. Many of the users of the project have experienced social exclusion, unemployment and poor physical and mental health.

Results

The project has been extremely successful in helping individuals to turn their lives around and live more independently. It has been recognised by the Department of Health as a model of best practice in the recovery of people with long term mental health problems and our goal is to increase the number of people who would benefit from the project.

Whilst the main activity is football, the real goal is about social inclusion. Users who attend the project do so for a number of reasons: to improve fitness and health, make more friends, improve their football skills, or to achieve a vocational goal.

Programme

Currently the project runs adult sessions and specific sessions for young people in Waltham Forest (Douglas Eyre) and Redbridge (Fairlop Oak Playing Field). All sessions are free.

Session dates

Day	Time	Venue	Age group
Monday	2pm - 4pm	Fairlop Oak Playing Field	Adult
Monday	4pm - 5:30pm	Fairlop Oak Playing Field	12 - 17 years
Tuesday	2pm - 4pm	Douglas Eyre Sports Centre	Adult
Tuesday	4pm - 5:30pm	Douglas Eyre Sports Centre	12 - 17 years
Wednesday	2pm - 4pm	Fairlop Oak Playing Field	Adult
Thursday	2pm - 4pm	Douglas Eyre Sports Centre	Adult

Referral process

For more information on the referral process for clinicians, staff or service users, get in touch: Email: copingthroughfootball@nelft.nhs.uk

For more information, visit www.copingthroughfootball.org.