Bannsiders mark World Mental Health Day

COLERAINE FC and Hummingbird Project ‘Hues of Blues’ collaboration marks World Mental Health Day with new freekick event announcement…

Good mental fitness will be placed at the heart of Coleraine Football Club’s matchday with fierce rivals Linfield FC this afternoon.

It is part of its ‘Hues of Blues’ collaboration with the Hummingbird Project in Portstewart; a partnership aimed at scoping and supporting mental wellbeing in communities across the North Coast.

This coincides with World Mental Health Day taking place on Monday, Oct 10th, with this year’s theme – “Make mental health and wellbeing for all a global priority”. It kicks off our innovative ‘Hues of Blues’ plan for a series of emotional wellbeing events across our local community with a winning start.

It follows last month’s completion of CFC and Hummingbird’s ‘Hues of Blues Community Mental Health Survey.’ The results showed a high level of local need and interest in being involved in the partnership’s upcoming plans.

This enables us to announce the first of our wellbeing events a five-week pilot programme, FREEKICK, which launches at The Showgrounds on Monday 7th November running that evening and each Monday consecutively from 7pm to 8.30pm until December 5th.

Speaking on behalf of Hues of Blues, Jimmy McAleese, Service Development Lead at The Hummingbird Project, said:

“There has never been a more important time than right now for people to look after their emotional wellbeing, maintain and build their resilience skills and develop strong personal support networks within their community.

“FREEKICK provides a unique opportunity for anyone over 18 who wants to be proactive about their mental fitness. We expect demand will be high for the first 20 places on this unique new initiative but there will be more opportunities to get involved after Christmas when further FREEKICK programmes are rolled out.”

Registration for FREEKICK begins on Monday 10th October. Please watch out for how you can register via the Club’s social media channels and on the Hummingbird Project’s Facebook page and website.

Jimmy added: It is a sad reflection on our society that more people have lost their lives to suicide in the 25 years since the end of the Troubles than lost their lives because of the Troubles.”

Coleraine FC Chairman, Colin McKendry, said: “It is great to see the club and the Hummingbird Project mark World Mental Health Day by providing a launch date for our FREEKICK programme.

“I am certain the programme will have a positive effect for those who take part and I would urge those interested to register as soon as possible.

“We all know the importance of promoting positive mental health and it is great to see projects like this kick-start.”