This Mental Health Week, Colchester United have joined the EFL in supporting Mind to step up the fight for mental health.
On Monday morning, former players Steve Dowman and Barry Smith were joined by Tom Taylor, Henry Singleton and Eddie the Eagle from the U's Football in the Community and John Schultz from our Former Players' Association for the Mile for Mind campaign.
Hopefully, they will encourage friends, family or work colleagues to take up the challenge and raise funds for, and awareness of, Mind's work.
The EFL released the following ahead of Mental Health Awareness Week:
During this pandemic, millions of us have experienced a mental health problem, or seen a loved one struggle, for the first time in our lives. We’ve seen our friends, our partners, our parents, our children and ourselves struggle.
And we’ve seen that the support we all need just isn’t out there.
That’s why we’re supporting Mind to step up the fight for mental health.
The EFL has been working with Mind since 2018 to use the power of football to help improve the nation’s mental health and wellbeing.
We work with our network of Clubs and community trusts to raise awareness of mental health among fans and the wider public, improve the approach to mental health in football, and raise funds to deliver life-changing national and local support.
Together, we’ve achieved so much. But during Mental Health Awareness Week 2021, we need to take the fight for mental health to the next level.
Mile for Mind
Help us and Mind fight for better mental health by taking part in ‘Mile for Mind’.
Open to people of all ages and abilities (even pets!), you can choose to walk, hop, skip, jog or even jump your ‘Mile for Mind’ in your garden, local park or even around the stadium. Show your support for the one in four people who experience a mental health problem each year by making a £4 donation to Mind and nominating three friends, colleagues, family members to join in.
Remember to take a picture / video of your ‘Mile for Mind’ and share on social media using the hashtag #MileForMind #MHAW21
Together we can fight for change, for fairness, for respect and for life-changing support for all. Are you in?
Find out how you can get involved at mind.org.uk/efl