United Kingdom
Organisation: Everton in the Community (EitC)
Programme name: Imagine Your Goals
Country: England
City: Liverpool
Sport / Physical activity: Football
Programme information, aims and objectives: Everton in the Community’s ‘Imagine Your Goals’ programme, uses the power of football as a vehicle to positively address mental illness by raising awareness, challenging societal stigma and by inspiring individuals to take up new challenges to realise their life goals. Using football as a therapeutic tool the programme supports individual’s social, physical and mental health and wellbeing by building resilience, promoting integration and creating tangible support networks to combat loneliness, isolation and suicide to aid on-going recovery.
EitC’s FA charter standard mental health football project, ‘Imagine Your Goals’ (IYG), uses the power of football as a positive vehicle to address mental illness via the following objectives:
1.) Increasing Participation:
2.) Enhancing health and wellbeing:
3.) Creating volunteer and employment opportunities:
4.) Providing Training and Education opportunities:
5.) Providing Competitive football opportunities:
6.) Raising Awareness of mental health and challenging stigma:
7.) Underpin project impact with academic research:
Participants: IYG organises the largest Mental Health football league, involving 16 community mental health teams, engaging over 200 service users per month.
Participants are individuals aged 18 years or over, of any gender, and of any mental health disorder.
IYG are regional, national and international football champions after winning the European Mental Health Championship in Hamburg Germany
IYG host the UK National Mental Health Football Championship each year that coincides with World Mental Health Day (the largest tournament of its kind in the UK). It engages teams of mental health service users as well as teams from the public and private sectors. The tournament helps to raise awareness of mental health and is intended to help the public better understand mental illness. And has been backed by many influential dignitaries including MP Andy Burnham, Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust CEO Joe Rafferty and Stan Collymore.
Working in partnership with FACT Liverpool (http://www.fact.co.uk/) IYG have merged together art, sport and mental health via an innovative creative arts project centring on the themes of mental
health, erectile dysfunction, masculinity and what it means to be a ‘real man’.
IYG host exhibition matches coinciding with Everton home fixtures, where former 1st manager Roberto Martinez helps raise awareness of mental health, engage with fans, celebrate participants progress, and supports marketing materials in match programmes/ stadium screens.
Sessions: We deliver 7 regional football therapy training sessions, engaging 200+ service users per week.
• This is the only/ main sporting activity for 77% of participants.
• IYG deliver 3 ability appropriate activity sessions per week at Clock View psychiatric intensive care unit for those most in distress and in need of urgent inpatient care.
Evaluation/Measurement of outcomes: An independent report in the Journal of Mental Health Practice found that:
- 100% of participants stated they were fitter as a result of the programme
• 94% had an improved sense of wellbeing
• 59% had fewer mental health symptoms
• 88% had more self-esteem
• 76% were mixing more with family and friends
• 76% had more hope for the future
• 58% of IYG participants reported they were able to reduce their use of medication or mental health services since starting IYG, (86% direct attribution rate to IYG).
• 64% of participants reported that they have lost weight since joining the programme, (81% direct attribution rate to IYG).
IYG has supported 55 service users into active volunteer opportunities contributing 1,415 volunteer hours. 56% of these would not have volunteered if they had not participated in IYG. IYG volunteer time leverages a greater value per £1 spent than it could get additionally in gift aid per £1.
A Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis demonstrated that IYG have supported 24 participants into employment, helping to generate a social return value of £455,856 in calculated cost savings. Based on all the programme objectives IYG has an overall SROI value of £3.22 for every £1 invested. This figure demonstrates the significant benefit the programme delivers to its participants/ local council services and national exchequer contributions with direct and indirect cost savings (Social Return On Investment, August 2013).
- Over 280 service-users have completed FA coaching and gym instructor qualifications.
• IYG has provided health training/ workshops and counselling courses to 199 service-users and support staff.
IYG actively promote mental health awareness and support the ‘Time-to-Change’ campaign, signing an organisational pledge to stamp out mental health discrimination.
To date we have trained over 1000 members of the public, staff, volunteers and peer mentors in Mental Health awareness and MH first aid training.
Impact: Suicide is the biggest killer of men under the age of 45 (Mental Health Foundation). IYG has been credited as providing some level of relapse and suicide prevention: https://www.premierleague.com/news/118741
Achievements:
- 2010 North West Football Award; 'Best Community Scheme of the Year'
- 2010 Tony Adams Award; 'Positive Mental Health programme'
- 2011 North West Public Health Winner
- 2012 European mental health football champions, Germany
- 2013 National Positive Practice in Mental Health; ‘Partnership Working’
- 2014 NHS Excellence in Supply Award; Mental Health Care & Overall Winners
- 2014 Charity Times Awards; ‘Cross Sector Partnership of the Year’
- 2014 European mental health football champions, Oxford, UK
- 2015 PFA Football4Hope Programme shortlisted
- 2015 National mental health football champions
- 2016 European mental health football champions, Germany
- 2016 National Positive Practice in Mental Health; ‘Integration of physical and mental health award’
- 2016 Merseyside Sports Partnership ‘Community Project of the Year’ nomination
- 2017 European Mental Health Football Champions (EASI Cup, Amsterdam)
- 2017 National Community Sport and Recreation Alliance ‘Mental Health’ award winners
- 2017 Global Beyond Sport Health & Wellbeing award winner
Footprint / legacy: In 2010-2012 EitC’s IYG project received a national roll-out via funding from the Premier League, Sport Relief and Time-to-Change. 15 other Premier League clubs adopted the IYG model. EitC lead the national cascade training and shared best practice workshops to the various UK professional clubs. To date over 4000 participants have benefitted nationally from the IYG UK.
