The Leeds United Foundation will be delivering a number of activities throughout this week to help promote and raise awareness around Mental Health Awareness Week.

Mental Health Awareness Week is a time to step up the fight for mental health and the annual event is taking place from Monday 10^th May to Sunday 16^th May. It is as important as ever to discuss the topic, reach out if you are struggling or to those around you and educate yourself on how you can support people that may be dealing with mental health issues.

Across the various programmes delivered every day by the club’s official charity, coaches will be hosting workshops and promoting activities around mental health with participants in their disability programmes, as part of the Premier League Primary Stars and Premier League Kicks initiatives and throughout the Girls Academy, as well as delivering sessions with staff and participants on the NCS programme.

The theme for Mental Health Awareness Week this year is ‘Connect with Nature’ and as part of this we would like to encourage people in the local community and across the country to get out for a walk. For those who can take some time for themselves, make sure you take some photos of nature whilst you’re out and about and send them in to the Foundation so we can create a special gallery of images – you can be as creative as you want, and the Mental Health Foundation have created a Nature Journal that can be downloaded here.

The Foundation also have fantastic links with Touch Stone Leeds who deliver the Mentally Healthy Leeds project and they are hosting nature themed sessions with all of their groups during Mental Health Awareness Week. These groups include sessions for men, women, cooking, walking and meditation, and run from Monday through to Friday. If you would like to find out more information please visit their website here or contact Mentally Healthy Leeds on 0113 248 4880 or via email at MHL@touchstonesupport.org.uk.

Helplines available for support:

• Shout 85258 is a free, confidential, anonymous text support service. You can text from wherever you are in the UK. By texting the word ‘SHOUT’ to 85258 you will start a conversation with a trained Shout Volunteer, who will text you back and forth, sharing only what you feel comfortable with.
• Papyrus is available for any young people struggling in current circumstances. For confidential suicide prevention advice contact HOPELINEUK. They are open 9am–12am (midnight) every day of the year on 0800 068 4141.
• NSPCC is a children’s charity dedicated to ending child abuse and child cruelty. If you are a child that wants to get in touch for support please contact 0800 1111 (24-hour helpline) or if an adult wants to get in touch through concerns over a child please contact 0808 800 5000. 

If you would like to send in any photos from your nature walks throughout the week for our special Leeds United gallery, please send them to Beth.Kerrigan@leedsunited.com. Beth can also help with any enquiries about the mental health programmes delivered through the Leeds United Foundation, such as Fit Minds.