The University of Gloucestershire have been holding their very own mental health week, and Women’s Hockey have been supporting a charity called MIND.
Throughout the season, the club has organised fundraisers and charity matches, collaborating with other university teams such as Rugby League. The club has raised over £300 throughout the season so far and still have a few months left to raise even more money.
As part of this week, dedicating their focus to this particular issue, the club decided to organise a get-together yesterday evening to discuss the issues around the mental health and to give the girls more information on the charity the club support.
The aims of these gatherings are to make the girls feel comfortable enough to speak out about mental health. But also if they suffer from specific issues that they have that support from the rest of the girls.
Charity Secretary, Heather Edworthy said: “The reason we decided to choose this charity in particular is because of their campaign ‘Ready! Set! Go!’ which is involved around improving mental health and raising awareness of issues in sport and improving people’s well being in participation in sport, whether it be at grass routes level or continuing higher up.
“You’ve got to start somewhere…the age group at universities are the most affected by mental health issues, I think even just mentioning it is a big step for some people. Knowing that the people you are with are willing to talk about it and listen. This will really start and get people thinking about it and will hopefully spark a few people’s interest.”
Women’s Hockey are looking to continue their development in raising awareness with several events planned before the summer.
