Hibs today announced plans to help raise awareness of mental health.
The Club is working with its GameChanger Partners Hibernian Community Foundation and NHS Lothian and other mental health agencies to break down barriers around mental health issues and promote positive mental well-being.
One in three people living in Scotland will be affected by a mental health problem each year – with depression and anxiety the most common illnesses.
Add in the fact that around one in eight of us – or 12% of the population – take anti-depressants every day and it is plain to see the scale of the issue, and the importance of talking about our own mental health and well-being.
That is why GameChanger is delighted to support those agencies working in this field at the Aberdeen match, which is our closest home game to World Mental Health Day.
We will have a number of those organisations in our stand concourses, engaging with supporters and raising awareness of the issues and the work that they do. We are delighted to commend the work of Breathing Space, Choose Life, Scottish Association for Mental Health (SamH), Health in Mind, the Polish Family Centre and Samaritans.
GameChanger supports suicide prevention work through hosting the Choose Life Challenge football tournament, played this year at Hibernian Training Centre in the summer and involving 20 teams from all over. Supporters will welcome to the pitch at half time the two teams who won the Choose Life Challenge Cup and Shield respectively, Ladzio and Asda Athletic.
They will be taking part in a half-time ten-second shootout, all in the name of fun, but with the serious purpose of raising awareness, and we thank them for their participation.
Next week, GameChanger in partnership with the ScotRail Alliance, has organised a two-day mental health first aid course for a number of East Junior and Lowland League teams, to help them ensure their coaching and other staff are better equipped to spot and deal with mental health issues. Our thanks to ScotRail Alliance for their support.
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
