Derby County in the Community and the New Football Pools launched a new Mental Health Football Initiative called the Winning Mentality in October 2009. The New Football Pools presented Derby County in the Community with £60,000 to fund the Winning Mentality Initiative, an exciting mental health football initiative that will grow provision across the count. This initiative's aim is to use football as a tool to help young men who suffer from mental health distress to improve their health, participate in sport and become part of a team, reducing any social isolation they might feel.

 

The Winning Mentality Initiative forms part of the Every Player Counts Initiative, a leading project of the Football League Trust and supported by the Football Pools. Derby County in the Community is one of the 36 Football League Community Schemes to deliver Every Player Counts, the first National Disability football programme, this season. 

Building upon the strengths and experiences of Derwent Valley Rovers FC, a derby city based mental health football team; the Winning Mentality Initiative has been delivering across 4 sites in Derbyshire to over 70 participants in the initiative. The Winning Mentality delivers at the following sites:

 

Monday 4.15 - 5.15pm - Erewash Valley Valliants at Friesland Leisure Centre, Sandiacre

Thursdays 11 - 12pm - Chesterfield WMI FC at Queens Park Leisure, Chesterfield

Thursdays 1.30 - 2.30pm - Derwent Valley Rovers FC at Powerleague Soccerdome, Derby
Thursdays 2 - 3pm - Swadlincote WMI FC at Greenbank Leisure Centre, Swadlincote

The Winning Mentality has seen a number of key partners come together to deliver its three strand approach. Derby County in the Community has been working in partnership with Derbyshire Mental Health Trust, Derbyshire County Football Association, University of Derby, Chesterfield FC and Derbyshire Voice to ensure that the Winning Mentality is at the forefront of inclusive football in the county. Alongside the delivery strand of the initiative, an awareness campaign and research project has also been conducted to further highlight the benefits of this project. 

The Winning Mentality initiative is raising awareness of mental health issues and attempting to reduce the stigma attached to them by delivering a Mental Health Awareness workshop. The workshop, which uses football as a vehcile to raise awareness and improve peoples knowledge, was piloted with Derby County in the Community staff in June 2010 and is now going to be delivered to other Football in the Community schemes staff in early 2011. The success of this workshop could lead to it being delivered across the four sites of delivery, to ensure that the staff of the local leisure centres are aware of the participants and the problems they face. It is also hoped the workshop could be delivered to adult mainstream Charter standard clubs in the future so that an exit route for players within the initiative is created.

The last strand of the initiative is the research project, which has been conducted throughout the past 6 months of the project up to the end of year one in October 2010. The research is going to shape the Winning Mentality into its second and third year, by taking on the opinions and views of the players of the initiative and using them to develop the iniative so that the Winning Mentality is truly a player focused project. The research was conducted in the form of focus groups, using open ended questions to encourage the players to discuss their reasons for their sustained participation in the project.

The research obtained can now be seen by reading the first year report for the Winning Mentality project, which can be viewed by clicking here.

Players interested in participating in the sessions should telephone Sam Turner, Disability Football Development Officer at Derby County in the Community on 01332 667575 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it