West London derby raises awareness of mental health for charity partner Mind

Brentford FC Community Sports Trust teamed up with Brentford FC and the charity Mind to raise awareness of mental health at its game against QPR on Saturday. During half time representatives from our Hounslow Hawks project, which provides football as therapy for patients who are living with a mental illness, took part in the Mind games challenge. And due to the generosity of Brentford fans, Mind also managed to raise a £873.60, which will go directly towards Mind’s sports projects with the EFL.

With one in four people experiencing a mental health condition at some point in their life, the half-time activity aimed to tackle the stigma around mental health amongst football fans and highlight how sport can be instrumental on the road to recovery.

Mind is the current charity partner of the EFL and many fans will have probably spotted their logo on the back of club shirts this season. Together with Mind and the EFL, Brentford FC and its Community Sports Trust are using the power of football to raise awareness of mental health.

Jack Holloway, Media Relations Manager at Mind, said:

“On behalf of Mind, we would like to say a massive thank you to the club for their support, and to supporters for their incredible donations, on Saturday.

“We really felt the club went the extra mile to make the charity matchday a real success on all fronts. We were really pleased to link up with the Community Sports Trust for our half-time Mind games.”

Brentford, working closely with its Community Sports Trust, has already garnered a reputation for raising awareness of mental health. Back in October, for World Mental Health Day, participants from the Trust’s Hounslow Hawks project took part in a unique training session at Brentford’s training ground with Sergi Canos.

The coverage of this event can be found here.

For more information on the EFL’s partnership with Mind click here.