Football Delhi to run campaign on mental health challenges faced due to pandemic

New Delhi: Football Delhi, the sport’s governing body in the national capital, will run a campaign focussed on mental health from 29 May to 15 August, seeking to address the concerns of those facing severe mental health challenges amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The name of the campaign is ‘Mind Goals’. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, many people have been facing serious mental health challenges. Along with the physical health impacts of COVID-19, it has pushed people into social isolation, disconnection from family and friends. “We are concerned about the impact of this situation on the mental health of our football fraternity. Referees, players, coaches, officials, administrators, fans are missing the action on field, and are not able to utilise their talents fully, as they sit out at home,” said Football Delhi president Shaji Prabhakaran. “This has propelled a sense of frustration and helplessness. We, at Football Delhi are committed to address and tackle these challenges of our people.” The pandemic has triggered feelings of helplessness, isolation, grief, anxiety, depression, and overall stress related challenges resulting in exponentially increased demand for health support services. Prabhakaran added, “We are launching Mind Goals as an effort to facilitate the mental well-being and motivation of our people in our football fraternity and impart them with a sense of hope. “We would like to express our gratitude and thanks to all our expert partners and individual contributors for helping us to initiate this important campaign at these difficult times. Special thanks to Mr Loknath, MD Reech Sports (UK) for extending exceptional support.” The main objectives of the campaign is: Creating awareness among football fraternity about mental health, mental well-being, breaking barriers in mind to promote health seeking behaviour, motivating and uplifting spirits to enable a sense of hope for future, educating about coping mechanisms of mental health issues and provide real life relatable examples (case studies) of people who have recovered from mental health challenges/issues, encouraging constructive mindset.