Heads Up for Mental Health

Kicking Off the Conversation on Mental Health

We can all do more to support each other, and that starts with talking
Across the country football is uniting to kick off the biggest ever conversation on mental health

Over the next two weekends every football team from across the Premier League, English Football League, The National League, The Barclays FA Women’s Super League, The FA Women’s Championship and The FA Women’s National League will dedicate their matches to Heads Up, a partnership between The FA and Heads Together.

Spearheaded by HRH The Duke of Cambridge, Heads Up aims to harness the influence and popularity of football to normalise the conversation around mental health.

With over 15 million football fans in England, Heads Up aims to use the power of football as a way to show the nation that we all have mental health and it is just as important as physical health. Over the Heads Up Weekends, the aim is to reach every single football fan to raise awareness that we will all face ups and downs in life which will affect our mental health, but we can all do more to support each other - and that starts with talking.

The simple power of conversation - talking and listening – can be the first step to better mental health, and to making it OK to say we’re not OK.

Hertfordshire FA CEO Karl Lingham said “With one in four of us expected to experience a mental health problem in any given year, it’s important that we are not afraid to start the conversation. Football is something that always gets people talking so is well placed to change attitudes and help us all to speak more openly about mental health.” 

Whether you or someone you know is struggling, or if you want to help dispel the stigma, kick off a conversation about mental health this weekend.

Join the conversation using #KickOffAConversation and #HeadsUp. 

Find out more and get tips from Heads Up’s charity partners (Mind, CALM, Sporting Chance and Heads Together) – visit the website by followong the link below.

LEARN MORE ABOUT HEADS UP

Those wanting immediate support can also text ‘HeadsUp’ to 85258 to connect with a trained crisis volunteer – a service run by ‘Shout’ and powered by Crisis Text Line, which is available 24/7 and free to text from most mobile networks.