In 2014, the Coalition government unveiled a £2m scheme designed to get people with mental health issues playing more sport. Run by Sport England, and mental health charity, Mind; the initiative saw a wide range of sports being offered to help people with their mental health.
The scheme, Get Set to Go, now runs across eight areas in London, West Midlands, the North West and the North East. Areas were chosen for their relatively high levels of inactivity and people with mental health issues. The projects are led by local Mind offices.
Experts are saying that schools, too, could use sport and physical activity to help deal with the mental health problems faced by their students.
Department of Health figures show that one in four people in the UK will suffer from mental health problems, in their lifetime. One in six at any given time. That’s neurotic mental health issues such as anxiety, addiction, obsession, phobia, depression. And clinical problems like bipolar disorder, personality disorder, schizophrenia, eating disorders.
‘The horrible thing about mental health issues is they can strike indiscriminately,’ says Alex Welsh, Chief Executive of the London Playing Fields Foundation. Welsh, who set up the Coping through Football project in Waltham Forest seven years ago, to help people with their mental health problems. ‘People go through life and all of a sudden something happens. Some cope better than others.’
Welsh, also a Tottenham Hotspur Community coach, adds: ‘Suicide is the biggest killer of 25-28 year old men, next to road traffic accidents. He believes that there’s an over-reliance on medication as a treatment for mental health problems. The best way to help a person with mental health issues, he thinks, is to give them the support they need before the problem becomes too acute. That’s where sport comes in. And schools.