And that has led to many challenges for Wolves Foundation over the last 14 months, to the extent that providing increased mental support will become one of their key ambitions in the near future.
Mental Health Awareness Week runs from May 10th-16th, and offers a chance to shine a light on the importance of the subject and some of the work the Foundation carries out to support people in the community.
The Foundation already had several initiatives in place across their health delivery prior to the pandemic, including the hugely successful men’s Head 4 Health programme which saw participant Dean meet HRH Prince William at the Head’s Up campaign he was spearheading with the FA.
More initiatives developed during the pandemic, including the Healthy Goals initiative providing activities for pre-school children and their parents, Fit Momma’s and Fit Dadda’s helping parents with their physical health, while this week will see the start of an ante-natal programme which also includes an element relating to maternal mental health.
On top of the specific activities, the Foundation have continued to look at ways of maintaining and improving health and wellbeing during the pandemic across all areas of delivery, as shown by regular calls to the Wolves Elders and Molineux Memories groups, and virtual activities across all ages, including online FIFA tournaments for PL Kicks.
“We have tried to be there for people as much as we can with all the various projects,” explains Wolves Foundation’s health and wellbeing manager Rachel Smith.
“For our existing participants we were there at the start trying to help them through, while as the months went on we were able to help new people who were experiencing mental health difficulties during lockdown.
“We know this has been a really challenging time for so many people, and Mental Health Awareness Week is giving an opportunity to share and promote some of our projects and how they can help people, as well as holding some one-off events.”
Those events include a ‘Returning to Normality’ anxiety workshop open to all who may be concerned about what lies ahead, the release of a rap penned by Head 4 Health participant Jason, and a Sensory Soup activity for the young Healthy Goals participants looking at ideas around nature – the theme of the 2021 awareness week.
One particular highlight is the result of weeks of hard work from the Head 4 Health group who have, with some fantastic help from band Junomoon, produced a song and video around some very famous lyrics.
Health officer Steve Maiden takes up the story.
“We had been talking about distraction techniques in one of our ‘Extra Time’ sessions, which is where those who have completed the six week Head 4 Health course can continue to stay in touch with the Foundation, and one of the guys mentioned music,” says Steve.
“From there they came up with the idea to do this music video to mark Mental Health Awareness week, and the result has been fantastic.
“Some of these guys have been quite poorly with their mental health over a number of years, but to do what they have done, with hardly any prompting from us, has been amazing.
“The song was actually recorded by RML Studios at Newhampton Arts Centre, and, even then, when we thought some of the group might become overwhelmed or distracted, they all went for it, and it was like they had been recording music all their lives!
“I think what really helps is that we have been able to build up relationships of trust and I think that was summed up by a quote from one of the guys from Head 4 Health.
“He said that they wanted to give us something back for what we had done for them.”
“During what has been such a challenging time for so many people it has been amazing to see how the guys have come together with this music project,” added Rachel.
“Guys who struggle with anxiety on a daily basis have proper thrown themselves into it and come out of their comfort zone, and we are all really proud of them.”
As mentioned, supporting participants of all ages with their health and welfare is not just confined to specific health initiatives run by the Foundation but all activities if the need is there.
Staying in touch both online and via phone calls during lockdown has been one of the key priorities for Foundation staff, including the BTEC and degree programmes where students switched to virtual learning.
Being able to continue with their studies during a time when the country was locked down was certainly beneficial to those involved in the Foundation’s education programmes, while BTEC students have also been delighted to get back out on the pitch with fixtures now restarting.
“Being back on the pitch not only as a team but also as individuals has been great,” said one of the students, Lewis.
“The education we receive is impeccable and the seven units cover all the different departments of sport.
“The work we do and being back training at high intensity is something that gives us a really good focus.”
Brad Moore is an education officer with the Foundation who also serves as a club mentor on the further education programmes.
“With fixtures starting up it has been great to see the BTEC students out there representing Wolves and the Foundation again,” said Brad.
“Lockdown was a difficult period because we lost that face-to-face contact but we kept going with regular contact on calls, Zoom meetings and some online enrichment sessions including one first team player Leander Dendoncker which was a fantastic opportunity.”
Another part of the Foundation’s activities with younger people in the Premier League Inspires programme, focused on those aged between 11 and 25 who are perhaps at risk of not achieving their potential as they move into adulthood due to various factors.
The Foundation work with the Premier League and Prince’s Trust to engage the young people particularly in secondary schools, and provide them with an alternative classroom experience.
This can also include a mentoring programme which again helps develop the young people and can improve their health and wellbeing.
“The PL Inspires mentoring programme is a one-to-one flexible 12-week programme to support schools in developing their young people,” explains education officer Liam Turner.
“It is based within the school environment and involves setting a personal development plan to set goals and track progress to support each young person and help them reach their full potential, also using sports activity to effectively impact the needs of the of the participant.”
Another area where the Foundation supports young people is in running the National Citizen Service (NCS) in conjunction with the City of Wolverhampton College, encouraging them to make a positive difference in their local community.
And perhaps as a foreword to this week’s theme of ‘Nature’ for Mental Health Awareness Week, participants’ efforts on the NCS scheme last year included volunteering with the Canal & River Trust planting daffodils in Wolverhampton and helping to improve the landscape around the Foundation Arena at Aldersley, a site which has also been used by the council to put together food parcels, and carry out Covid-19 testing and vaccinations.
- Keep an eye on Wolves Foundation’s website and social media channels for plenty of information about Mental Health Awareness Week, and the big video reveal later in the week.
