Publish date: 19 July 2024
West London NHS Trust’s Peer Support Team is collaborating with Queens Park Rangers Football Club’s charity, QPR in the Community Trust, and the Footy Addicts to offer a Football for wellbeing hub, aimed at offering men in West London another avenue for supporting their mental health and wellbeing.
It is open to all men in West London, over the age of 18, including the community, service users and Trust workers. No prior experience of playing football is needed.
Starting from 31 July, the sessions will take place every Wednesday at 3pm, at PowerLeague, 41 South Africa Road Shepherd's Bush, London, W12 7RW. It will involve one hour play, and half an hour socialising.
People can self-refer easily or professionals can refer service users through this form.
Research shows that playing football can improve our mental health, increasing our supply of serotonin, the hormones that make us happy, improving confidence and reducing social isolation among other things.
The new project is part of the team’s Lived experience outreach programme, which aims to provide people with alternative ways of supporting their wellbeing in the community.
Babak Rafiei, Senior Peer Support Worker who is part of the team behind the project said:
“Peer support workers are always working towards innovating mental health approaches through using our experiences and the experiences of the lives around us. As a peer support worker directly involved in the Football for wellbeing hub, I have experienced the benefits of physical activity for wellbeing. But I am also inspired by the experiences of people around me who have benefitted from projects like Football for wellbeing.”
For more information email Mary-Ange on Mary-Ange.Koko@westlondon.nhs.uk / Babak on Babak.Rafiei-Taghanaki@westlondon.nhs.uk or phone 07483150139