Health bosses team up with Leicestershire sports clubs for mental health consultation

Leicester City FC and Leicestershire County Cricket are amongst the teams signed up.

Health bosses in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland are teaming up with sports clubs to encourage their fans to feedback on mental health services.

Leicester Football Club, Leicestershire County Cricket, and Leicester-Shire and Rutland Sport (LRS) are among the clubs backing a consultation into plans that would transform the way mental health services are delivered. A twelve-week consultation on proposals to improve adult and older people’s services is already well under way, with the consultation closing on August 15th.

Now the NHS has won support from sports clubs locally who are keen to encourage their players and fans to back the consultation and provide their feedback before the survey closes.

Gordon King, Director of Mental Health at Leicestershire Partnership Trust said: “We  know that mental health difficulties are a growing problem. Even before the pandemic, figures showed that one in four adults experienced some form of mental health problem in their life. This means that it is more important than ever to transform our mental health services. We need as many people as possible to fill in the consultation and tell us what they think. We have some fantastic sports clubs in our area with big followings, so we’re really pleased to have both their support and influence.”

Leicester City Football Club Ambassador, Alan Birchenall, said: “We know that mental health difficulties affect many people and, among those people, will be our own supporters. We really care about them and our local community, so would encourage as many people as possible to support the mental health consultation. People need to have their say to make sure the proposals set out are what they think are needed.”

Leicestershire County Cricket Club CEO, Sean Jarvis added: “As a club we always support those initiatives that will raise awareness of mental health, the difficulties people can face and the support that is out there. We’ve encouraged the  Leicestershire County Cricket Team and our staff to back the consultation and complete the questionnaire. We’re also encouraging our supporters across the county to do the same.” 

Vincent Kelsey is a Peer Support Worker with Leicestershire Partnership Trust. The 55-year-old started experiencing mental health difficulties when he was a teenager and he’s encouraging people to get involved with the consultation as well.

He said: “People say that they want things to improve – they want faster access to treatment and then they want to get better more quickly – so it is important that they write their views down and take part. All comments are useful. With this transformation, it will hopefully not take people as long to get support as it did with me, and people can start to rebuild their lives more quickly.”

There’s just under a month to go until the consultation closes on August 15th. To find out more about the consultation and complete a questionnaire to share your views go to: www.greatmentalhealthllr.nhs.uk