The second of the two meetings organised by The Football Supporters Association took place on Zoom on Wednesday evening 24th February, and attended by a member from Senior Blades.
This was a panel discussion which was hosted by Anwar Uddin (FSA Fans for Diversity lead) and Chris Paourus (FSA National Council). This is part of the wider #TerraceTalk campaign which is a supporter-led mental health campaign you can find more about from the FSA (Football Supporters Association) website: thefsa.org.uk
There were four panel members
⦁ Hayley Jarvis – Head of Sport at MIND
⦁ Danny Mills – Dulwich Hamlet Player/Shout out for Mental Health Campaigner
⦁ Gemma Oaten – Actress/SEED Patron
⦁ Luke Chadwick – Ex-professional footballer and now a football coach
Each panel member recalled a time in their lives when they were suffering with their mental health and the overriding message that came across was none of them knew who they could talk to about this problem or where to go for help.
The focus of this campaign is to encourage open and honest conversations about mental health and encourage supporters and anyone who needs them to seek out mental health support services.
The aim of TerraceTalk is to hopefully encourage fans to keep an eye out for each other and check in on a friend or fellow supporter you would normally see at the match.
The FSA website has a full list of agencies who can offer help and suggest contacting MIND for dealing with mental health matters during the lockdown. MIND also have a partnership with the EFL and run a joint ‘Have your Mate’s Back’ campaign.