10 October is World Mental Health Day, and the CAFE team is joining with friends, partners and colleagues to encourage wider discussions around mental health.

The theme for this year's initiative is suicide prevention, and sharing a message of hope for people experiencing mental health issues.

In many countries, suicide is the leading cause of death among young people aged 20-34 years. Research led by the University of Manchester in 2017 found that only 27% of people who died by suicide between 2005 and 2015 in the United Kingdom had been in contact with mental health services in the year before they died.

As the world's most popular sport, football has an important role to play in promoting mental health awareness.

Governing bodies, national associations, leagues and clubs across the game are getting involved in World Mental Health Day - FIFA have published an interview with former AC Milan, Inter Milan and Croatia defender Dario Simic discussing his experiences of mental health issues, and UEFA Foundation have partnered with Everton in the Community to use sport to motivate and inspire children and young adults identified as having a mental illness or at risk of developing a mental illness.

CAFE has today published a Note on mental health, analysing how the topic relates to the social model of disability and the terminology used to describe mental health. To download this CAFE Note, please click here.

CAFE Media and Communications Manager Michael Rice has also shared a blog post, discussing how the death of his friend, a keen football fan, encouraged him and his fellow supporters to speak more openly about their mental health. The blog can be viewed here.

"If you feel like you are struggling, speak with someone and do not be afraid to discuss how you are feeling. It is not a sign of weakness, it is a show of strength", said Michael.

To find out more about World Mental Health Day, visit https://wfmh.global/.

Published 10/10/2019