Hello! We’re Liz and Maria, and we’re the Club’s Mental Health Champions.
What are Mental Health Champions?
Set up in collaboration with England Athletics and the MIND mental health charity, “The role of a Mental Health Champion is to support people to access the mental wellbeing benefits of running, remove stigma and get people talking about mental health.” We aren’t here/qualified to provide professional help, but we can provide a welcoming, friendly ear and help direct you to relevant resources/services.
As part of this, we will:
- Have an open and non-judgemental attitude
- Be positive, patient and supportive
- Remain professional, keeping things confidential unless there is a risk to the person or anyone else.
We take a gentle approach here – we do keep an eye on the group and quietly or more actively provide links to support, but would welcome people to flag up if they think a friend in the club could do with some support and signposting.
What is good mental health?
Good mental health is not just an absence of mental health problems. If you’re mentally healthy, you are able to develop emotionally, creatively, intellectually and spiritually; you are able to develop and sustain mutually satisfying relationships with other people; you can face problems and resolve them; you can be confident and assertive; you can play and have fun.
Running and other forms of exercise have been proved to help improve people’s mental health and well-being.
In summary, we’re here to keep people talking about mental health and to signpost people to help when they need it either for themselves or people they care about. This last couple of years has been really tricky for so many people, so please, keep talking, chat to a friend or family member, contact your doctor or other health services, take a look at some of the links below.
Helpful Resources
Mind – info, guidance and advice for individuals facing mental health challenges and those supporting loved ones: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/
CALM – a charity that provides crisis support, with a particular focus on male mental health. They have a helpline and webchat, as well as other support resources: https://www.thecalmzone.net/
Samaritans – phoneline available for anyone who is struggling to cope, available 24/7: https://www.samaritans.org/ / telephone: 116 123
In an emergency, always dial 999 or go to A&E.