World Mental Health Day – How the SCDF can support you

World Mental Health Day 2023 gives us the chance to remind you how the SCDF can support our Community.

The SCDF has always recognised Mental Health as one of our communities bigger issues, and continues to help support and tackle Mental Health through our various projects and programmes.

From our Learning Disability Rugby League team, to Young at Heart, we as a Foundation offer multiple different ways that we can support you.

Our Learning Disability Rugby League (LDRL) Team and LDRL Academy offer a space for those with disabilities to come and be a part of a team, join in with peers and play they game that they love, Rugby League. Since it’s formation, 71% of Participants who play for our LDRL reported that their Mental Health improved since being a part of the team.

The Saints Angels Inclusive Cheer side provides a cheer team for cheer-lovers who don’t feel comfortable in a big group the place to come and be a part of a team where they can perform with their friends, and be a part of our Saints Angels team. Our Inclusive Cheer team has helped with improving the confidence of our participants, with 77% of parents from inclusive cheer reporting that their children who attend inclusive cheer have started to see an increase in their confidence.

Our recently launched Building Foundations programme helps support individuals with their physical and mental health, delivering a programme that both men and women will be able to follow across a set period of time that will help them with their mental and physical health. Another fitness programme that we offer is Young at Heart, which targets people over 50 and helps keep them active. The sessions form a really close group, and provides support for everyone involved.

We also have our Veterans of the Foundation group, consisting of members of our community who served for our country. The group provide a space where fellow veterans can meet, make friends and support one and other with any issues they may face. The group host a Breakfast morning every Thursday down at the Shining Lights Centre, organise regular day trips around the country and much more.

Every month we host our Qualitech Reminisce Cafe at the Totally Wicked Stadium, a monthly dementia friendly session for people within our community. Our Reminisce Cafe looks back at the history of St Helens as a town and the Rugby League Club, hears from past and present Saints players and hosts quizzes with great prizes up for grabs. The Cafe is a great way for older members of our community to meet, share tales and reminisce about our town, whilst creating a friendly atmosphere.

Our various projects continue to help our community, with 52% of people who have attended our programmes reporting that our programmes have helped them with social isolation, alongside 84% of people reporting that as they attended each session, they saw an increase in their confidence.

We as a Community continue to support each other, and work together to tackle Mental Health within our Community. Our range of projects provide a platform for everyone in our community to feel welcome and offer our support. If you have any queries or questions, get in touch here at [email protected].