Trust encouraging local people to get behind the Good Mood Football League

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On Thursday 28th January service users from the South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust will take to the pitch for the Good Mood Football League’s fun day.

The fun day is an opportunity for existing members of the league and service users hoping to join next season to take part in a one day football tournament. Two teams taking part are from the Bradford District Care Trust, which is hoping to set up their own league similar to the Good Mood League.

Matches start at 11am at The Zone, St Andrew’s Road, Huddersfield, and it is hoped local residents will come down and support the teams which will be made up of service users from the areas the Trust covers; Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield.

The current Good Mood League is made up of nine teams that train on a weekly basis, but official league matches take place quarterly. The difference between this league and other amateur football leagues is that the players are all current mental health service users, with conditions such as obsessive compulsive disorder, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Playing football has both psychological and physical benefits from anger management to anxiety control, but the most apparent advantage is that taking part gets people out of the house and socialising. The league aims to eliminate stigma and discrimination surrounding mental health and provides a great opportunity for service users to boost their mental wellbeing through exercise. Although the league is only in its second year it has been a remarkable success and with the help of The Zone in Huddersfield it has secured funding from The New Football Pools allowing the league to be affiliated with the Football Association. This partnership has enabled the league to expand into mainstream football and will open up training opportunities for volunteers. Day service worker Julian Moses, who works with the Calderdale Inclusion Support Service, said, "This fun day is an ideal opportunity to raise awareness of mental health issues, reduce stigma and promote wellbeing through exercise. We know that physical activity and social inclusion all make a big difference to wellbeing so the football league is great at supporting these areas and we hope this event will encourage lots more teams to join the league next season.”

For more information contact Julian Moses or Debbie Nicholson on 01422 342654.

Trust encouraging local people to get behind the Good Mood Football League

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