© Alamy
Posted on 10th May 2021
As part of Mental Health Awareness Week, we’ll be publishing a range of content promoting the fan-led #TerraceTalk campaign.
The aim of the week’s activity is to encourage open and honest conversations about mental health and encourage supporters who need them to seek out mental health support services. As part of Mental Health Awareness Week, we’ll be publishing a range of content promoting the fan-led #TerraceTalk campaign.
The aim of the week’s activity is to encourage open and honest conversations about mental health and encourage supporters who need them to seek out mental health support services.
A central theme of #TerraceTalk is to also recognise the value that social aspects of the matchday routine provide to fans up and down the country.
This week we’ll be covering Mental Health Awareness Week on our website and social media channels, featuring first-hand experience from football supporters, blogs and a special panel event on Thursday.
“The pandemic, and lack of in-person football, has had a serious impact on many fans’ mental health,” said Deborah Dilworth, the FSA’s EFL and women’s game network manager.
“It feels like an important moment to promote the work of our #TerraceTalk campaign and develop supporter-led work on a national level around mental health.
“Mental Health Awareness Week will hopefully encourage fans to keep an eye out for each other and check in on a friend or fellow supporter you’d normally see at the match.”
#TerraceTalk panel event: All Sides of the Game
As part of the week’s mental health activity we will be hosting a second panel discussion during Mental Health Awareness Week on Thursday 13th May from 6.00pm-7.30pm.
Hosted by Fans for Diversity campaign manager Anwar Uddin and FSA National Council member Chris Paouros, the event will bring together experts from all sides of the game to discuss mental health issues in and around football.
#TerraceTalk panel event – All Sides of the Game includes:
To register for the event, which is open to all, please click here.
Why and how do supporters groups start a project – fan reps explain more
To try to help facilitate and encourage more local work in this area, we’ve spoken to some of the elected fan representatives in the FSA’s EFL network to learn more about the work going on among supporter groups at club level.
We’ll have short interviews with supporters talking about the issues around mental health in football on our social media channels and the FSA’s Youtube page – so keep an eye out for those.
Geoff Bielby from Hull City Supporters’ Trust said: “You form friendships around the whole matchday experience and since November last year that’s gone.
“For anyone that lives on their own, or perhaps they’ve been furloughed, they’ve lost a huge part of their social life.
“And that has had a serious effect on some people’s mental health.”
As part of our mental health campaign – #TerraceTalk – we spoke to three of our supporter representatives, Paul Severn from Nottingham Forest Supporters Trust, Nick from the Canaries Trust & the Canaries Trust Mental Health Hub and Geoff Bielby from Hull City Supporters’ Trust, about how supporters groups can go about setting up a mental health project within their communities.
Following on from months of work with fan reps across the EFL, the FSA is pleased to launch #TerraceTalk – a supporter-led mental health initiative.
Since its launch in February, supporters have continued working and promoting the #TerraceTalk message – a fan-led initiative focusing on mental health.
For Mental Health Awareness Week and as part of our ongoing mental health campaign – #TerraceTalk – we spoke to two of our supporter representatives, Bik Singh from Blues4All and Gemma Teale from Brentford Independent Association of Supporters & LGBeeT’s about why supporters groups might consider setting up a mental health project within their communities.
