Monday 15th May marks the start of Mental Health Awareness Week.

Derbyshire FA and Derby County are eager to share a message of awareness during this time, and signpost individuals to all the opportunities that are out there.

County FA Support

If you are a Derbyshire County FA Grassroots Match Official and would like to have a confidential conversation about mental health, then please make contact with DCFA’s Mental Health Champion Lee Farthing at leefarthingreferee@gmail.com. Lee is a dedicated Match Official, Mentor and Club Welfare Officer and is always open to conversation.

Derbyshire County FA also regularly provide Mental Health Awareness workshops. Any information relating to these workshops can be found at www.derbyshirefa.com.

Derby County Community Trust Support

Through the work of the Derby County Community Trust, there are several local programmes designed to offer wellbeing support.

Team Talk is the Community Trust’s men’s mental health project, which runs weekly sessions across Derby. The drop-in hubs, which run at Pride Park Stadium, in the city centre and in partnership with a local church, are designed to provide a safe space for males to talk openly in a relaxed and social environment.

Team Talk

Dad’s Space is the newest extension of the above project, delivered in partnership with Connected Perinatal Support. The sessions mirror the social set up of Team Talk, with a focus on supporting dads and dads-to-be with any concerns in a welcoming environment.

Dad's Space

Tackle It is a wellbeing project specifically for young males, aged 12-25, which builds on the work delivered in schools by the Community Trust. Meeting weekly, the youth hub provides participants with a space to catch up, chat through any worries, and also give back to the community through social action projects which are chosen by those on the programme.

The hub runs each Monday (12-17 year olds) and each Tuesday (17-25 year olds) from Derwent Youth Centre.

Tackle It

GREAT Girls offers girls-only sessions which mirror the Tackle It offer for 11-16 year olds. The weekly hubs provide space for teenagers who may be struggling with their wellbeing to come together and be supported by their peers, working to initiate projects to impact their local community and grow self-esteem and confidence.

The Girls hub also runs at Derwent Youth Centre each Tuesday.

Great Girls

Beyond social hubs, the Community Trust also deliver football sessions for those living with diagnosed mental health conditions through the Get Set to Go initiative, which runs weekly from Willows Sports Centre.

Go Set Go

In schools, the Resilient Rammie and Winning Minds frameworks support primary-aged children through key milestones, including SATs and transitioning from primary to secondary schools.

Derby County Women also has its own committed wellbeing initiative - the Ewe Matter group. The aim is to ensure the club is an open and safe space for everyone to talk about any issues they may have.

It provides players, coaches and parents with a place to raise concerns and to help them access further professional support where appropriate, and signposts players and coaches to relevant courses and CPD so that problems can be recognised earlier and support can be given.

This year, the club have joined forces with Derbyshire FA to emphasise their wellbeing offer, which supports all its grassroots clubs as well as coaches and officials.

Derbyshire FA & Derby County are fully committed to supporting Mental Health Awareness Week across all areas of football and encourage everyone to look into all of the programmes outlined above.