Over The Line News and Media

Mental Health Awareness Week, Three & Samaritans encourage fans to Talk More Than Football

Thu, 16 May 2024 15:42:19 GMT

Mental Health Awareness Week kicked off with the first Listening Skills workshop

Mental Health Awareness Week kicked off with the first Listening Skills workshop, in which members of the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust met with experts from Samaritans to learn more about the importance of active listening. The workshop, hosted by Three at Stamford Bridge, aimed to equip fans with the six key skills for active listening: asking open questions, reacting with empathy, short words of encouragement, reflecting, clarifying and summarising.

Cliff Auger of the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust said: ‘As mental health awareness is an increasingly important topic, Three’s Talk More Than Football campaign is a fantastic example of delivering activity that supports and connects us supporters. To receive support for the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust and our Over The Line programme is really significant, and the dedicated Team Talk sessions are a great way to engage with our members and football supporters.’

Following the success of this workshop, Three have now announced they will be opening up this unique learning opportunity to even more fans. At a future date, fans from all over the country will be invited to take part in a special immersive online webinar, hosted by Samaritans and featuring special guest Alex George.

Full details on how you can sign up will be available soon.

Talk More Than Football

Wed, 15 May 2024 16:05:14 GMT

Talk More Than Football

In advance of Mental Health Awareness Week, Chelsea, in partnership with Three, launched a powerful video with ex Chelsea legend, Vinnie Jones.

It urges football supporters to open up and talk about their issues. "Talk more than football"

Some other incredible videos have been created by Wolves and Norwich City

'Over The Line' Mental Health Hub before West Ham Game

Fri, 03 May 2024 16:18:57 GMT

Sunday 5th March. Open from 11.30pm, Copthorne Hotel, The Shed End

The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust (CST) ‘Over the Line’ Mental Health Hub will be back at Stamford Bridge for Chelsea FC’s fixture versus West Ham on Sunday 5th May .

The CST is delighted that the Mental health Hub will return at our next home fixture. We would like to thank Chelsea FC for continued support of this excellent initiative.

The hub is located inside the entrance to the Copthorne Hotel , next to the Canoville Suite entrance. This new venue offers a more comfortable and relaxed environment with easier access to quiet rooms for anybody wishing to talk in private.

The new initiative, in which fans who may be experiencing issues can confidentially speak to qualified mental health professionals and specialists in a familiar environment, will be based behind the Shed End in the Copthorne Hotel , which is beside ‘Frankies’, and will be open from 11.30pm.

There will also be representatives located outside the Matthew Harding Stand, on the corner with the West Stand, from 11:30am.

The Mental Health Hub has been founded by the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust as part of its wider Over the Line initiative that launched in 2021. Over the Line is a mental health signposting and education resource specifically aimed at Chelsea supporters. The Over the Line website aims to help people recognise their own problems and then find the resources that support people make that first step’ over the line’.

This resource has been launched by the CST following the growing need to help Chelsea fans come to terms with their own mental health issues and to help them take the next step.

Supporter-led initiative announced by CST in response to increased mental health issues faced by fans
Hub offers free information, advice, and sources of support in a confidential and familiar environment
Project developed with support of Chelsea FC and Chelsea Foundation as a way for fans to help fans

It will be staffed by trained counsellors from the charity Hammersmith & Fulham, Ealing and Hounslow Mind along with Chelsea Foundation staff and CST volunteers and will offer anyone who is experiencing difficulties a place to go for support and advice.

The programme has been developed as a way for fans to help fans and will offer free information, advice, and sources of support on issues such as depression, anxiety, stress, addiction, and OCD. There is also help on hand for coping with grief, becoming a new parent, difficulty sleeping, and more.

The ‘Over the Line’ Mental Health Hub welcomes all Chelsea supporters and is supporter-led initiative kindly funded and supported by Chelsea FC and Chelsea Foundation.

‘Over the Line’ Mental Health Hub in new venue before Brighton Game

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 19:01:11 GMT

Sunday 3rd December. Open from 12.00pm, Copthorne Hotel, The Shed End

The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust (CST) ‘Over the Line’ Mental Health Hub will be back at Stamford Bridge for Chelsea FC’s fixture versus Brighton on Sunday 3rd December .

The CST is delighted that the Mental health Hub will return at our next home fixture. We would like to thank Chelsea FC for continued support of this excellent initiative.

Following the successful launch, the hub will now be located inside the entrance to the Copthorne Hotel , next to the Canoville Suite entrance. This new venue offers a more comfortable and relaxed environment with easier access to quiet rooms for anybody wishing to talk in private.

This resource has been launched by the CST following the growing need to help Chelsea fans come to terms with their own mental health issues and to help them take the next step.

Supporter-led initiative announced by CST in response to increased mental health issues faced by fans
Hub offers free information, advice, and sources of support in a confidential and familiar environment
Project developed with support of Chelsea FC and Chelsea Foundation as a way for fans to help fans

The ‘Over the Line’ Mental Health Hub welcomes all Chelsea supporters and is supporter-led initiative kindly funded and supported by Chelsea FC and Chelsea Foundation.

Men’s Health and Wellbeing Event

Fri, 10 Nov 2023 23:19:57 GMT

Free Event

The Chelsea Foundation, in conjunction with South Fulham Care Network, are hosting a free Men’s Health & Wellbeing Event to celebrate and promote physical and mental health in men throughout the awareness month of November.

Date : 16th November 2023

Time : 2pm – 6pm

Venue : Canoville Suite, Stamford Bridge, SW6 1HS

The event will be held at Stamford Bridge 2-6pm on the 16th November and will be open to community members (18+), organisations and Chelsea club and Foundation staff, both male and females.

The event is free but If you wish to attend, you will need to book so the club have a rough idea of numbers and food catered by the Nourish Hub.

You can book your place via this link

or via the QR code above

By signing up, you will be able to drop in any time between 2-6 to get involved with the following;

– Exercise sessions
– Guest speakers
– Fair of local services and activities
– Health checks
– Giveaways/ competitions
– Refreshments

For more information contact community.enquiries@chelseafc.com

Mental Health Hub postponed for Arsenal game

PH971116 — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 13:31:04 GMT

Due to the Tea Bar being used for an alternative event, Over The Line and the Chelsea Supporters' Trust are sorry to say that the Mental Health Hub will not be available at the Arsenal match.

We expect to see the Hub return soon.

If you require support, please visit our website at www.overtheline.uk

‘Over the Line’ Mental Health Hub back at Stamford Bridge for Villa game

Mon, 18 Sep 2023 14:02:12 GMT

Sunday 24th September, doors open 11.30am, Tea Bar, The Shed End

The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust (CST) ‘Over the Line’ Mental Health Hub will be back at Stamford Bridge for Chelsea FC’s fixture versus Aston Villa on Sunday 24 ^th September .

The CST is delighted that the Mental health Hub will return at our next home fixture. We would like to thank Chelsea FC for supporting this excellent initiative.

The new initiative, in which fans who may be experiencing issues can confidentially speak to qualified mental health professionals and specialists in a familiar environment, will be based in the Tea Bar [behind the Shed End, next to the ticket office] and will be open from 11:30am.

This resource has been launched by the CST following the growing need to help Chelsea fans come to terms with their own mental health issues and to help them take the next step.

It will be staffed by two trained counsellors from the charity Hammersmith & Fulham, Ealing and Hounslow Mindalong with Chelsea Foundation staff and will offer anyone who is experiencing difficulties a place to go for support and advice.

The ‘Over the Line’ Mental Health Hub welcomes all Chelsea supporters and is supporter-led initiative kindly funded and supported by Chelsea FC and Chelsea Foundation.

Chelsea Supporters’ Trust Board Member & ‘Over the Line’ co-founder, David Chidgey, said:

“The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust is proud to have launched this important service for Chelsea supporters at Stamford Bridge.

“Since the pandemic, data shows us that people are struggling more than ever with their mental health - it is therefore vital that we help to change the often negative attitudes towards mental health.

“As we head into the new season, it is important that fans help fans, and we hope that the Matchday Mental Health Hub will encourage those who may be struggling to seek help and support in a familiar environment.

Lord Daniel Finkelstein OBE, Chelsea Board Member and Chair of Chelsea FC Foundation said:

“Chelsea FC is delighted to help support the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust and their Over The Line initiative which provides important signposting services for looking to improve their wellbeing and mental health. This has been a collaborative approach, working with the club, Chelsea FC Foundation, Chelsea Supporters’ Trust and Hammersmith & Fulham, Ealing and Hounslow MIND, and an excellent example of working together to help drive positive change. We hope this is the first of many fan-led initiatives we see in the future.”

Yvonne Jones, Acting Director of Adult Services and Safeguarding Adults Lead, Hammersmith & Fulham, Ealing and Hounslow Mind, said:

“Teamwork is a foundation of success both and on and off the pitch. HFEH Mind is therefore excited to partner with Chelsea FC and the Chelsea Supporters Trust to deliver the Over The Line Campaign.

1 in 4 people in England experience a mental health issue each year, and studies show that men are less likely to talk about their wellbeing. We therefore see campaigns like Over The Line as essential to raise awareness of mental health and the support services available. We look forward to meeting Chelsea supporters on the day and finding new ways to work together in future.”

This project has been launched by The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust as part of its wider Over the Line scheme. The initiative has been funded by Chelsea FC with additional support from local mental health charity Hammersmith & Fulham, Ealing and Hounslow Mind.

Mental Health Awareness Week

Wed, 17 May 2023 12:20:21 GMT

Over The Line initiative set up to help Chelsea fans’ mental health

Chelsea Foundation are recognising Mental Health Awareness Week with a series of activities to help raise awareness of the importance of mental health and how to help with anxiety, including welcoming supporters to Stamford Bridge to share their stories.

See here for details

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/article/over-the-line-initiative-set-up-to-help-chelsea-fans-mental-health

and

https://twitter.com/ChelseaFC/status/1658792177709793281

Over The Line Interview on TalkSPORT

Wed, 25 Aug 2021 11:04:14 GMT

Over The Line on TalkSPORT

On Monday 23rd August, Michael Volpe OBE and David Chidgey were invited on to the Hawksbee and Jacobs show to talk about Over The Line.

You can listen to to the OTL appearance ⁩ here.

https://talksport.com/radio/listen-again/1629720000/1629725400/

They appeared at the beginning of the section which started at 2.30pm

OTL would like to thank Paul Hawksbee and Andy Jacobs for allowing us to talk about the initiative.

OTL Survey

Mon, 23 Aug 2021 17:32:50 GMT

Over The Line Mental Health Survey

Over The Line was launched as a consequence of what we believe is a growing need for mental health support within the Chelsea community. Chelsea Supporters Trust created the initiative to provide a space for fans to explore and de-stigmatise their mental health issues and to find resources to help them. A theory exists – it is probably more than a theory – that a certain demographic (mainly middle aged men) struggle to cope with mental health issues and even to some extent ignore or avoid dealing with them.

We wanted to try to gather some data from supporters about their mental health and their attitudes towards it, so we launched a survey to try to discover more about the situation among our supporters. We would like to thank everybody who took part. Below, we take a look at some of the key findings of the survey which we hope will help us tailor our activities and services as we go forward.

Summary

The survey took place over 3 days in mid-August 2021 and was simple in its construction. These findings are not wholly scientific and we would not pretend that they are. Participants were invited to take part via social media channels related to Chelsea FC and fan accounts. This is not scientific exercise and participants are entirely self-selecting. However, the survey was entirely anonymous and sought to address a few key questions;

How many fans were suffering with symptoms of mental health difficulty?
How profound were these issues?
How many of the respondents recognised that they may have a mental health problem?
How many were unable or unwilling to seek help?

At this point we would warn readers that there is discussion of suicide in this report.

The respondents

There were a total of 440 respondents to the survey.

90% were male

10% were female

The age group of the respondents was:

NOTE: given the self-selecting nature of this survey and the relatively small cohort of women respondents, we treat some of the outcomes with caution with respect to the female cohort as they relate to the wider acute mental health picture among women. Consequently, not all metrics are reported by gender.

How people are suffering

We began by asking respondents a multiple choice question that explored whether they suffered from any of a list of several different symptoms such as anxiety, depression etc. The list and the answers are below in the table.

Among the whole group, the most common symptom was stress, closely followed by anxiety, low self esteem and depression.

The knock on effects of these issues on the daily life of fans was most markedly in suffering from sleeplessness (51%), inability to focus on tasks (42%) and difficulty dealing with problems (37%). Many fans found that they had developed a short temper (36%) and 29% said they were getting upset more easily.

There are countless ways to divide these results as per age and gender but some highlights to note;

The highest symptom among women was anxiety whereas for men it was stress
Low self esteem was high among men in general but highest among those in the 26-40 age group (38%) followed by the 18-25s in which it was 35%
Among all women respondents the total for low self esteem was 40%
Depression was most common amongst men in the 41-55 age group at 31%
Around 11% of men and 6% of women suffered alcohol or drug abuse issues.

Among all respondents, the average number of individual symptoms was 2.1 among men and 2.7 among women.

Do people consider themselves to have a mental health problem?

Having established the extent and range of issues that people were suffering from, we asked respondents to tell us if they considered themselves to have a mental health problem and this is where things get more complex and interesting.

Despite answering in the affirmative to some serious and debilitating difficulties, many of our respondents - 62% - did not believe or consider themselves to have a mental health problem. Of those who said they did not consider themselves to have a mental health problem, the average number of symptoms was 1.6 per person. Some snapshots of this:

Of those men who did NOT believe they had a mental health problem,

- 47% said they suffered stress

- 28% suffered anxiety

- 25% said they suffered from low self-esteem

- 12% said they had difficulty controlling their emotions

We looked further into the group who DID NOT believe that they were suffering from mental health problems and found that 13% of this cohort were experiencing 3 or more symptoms . Those 56+ were the most common among this group.

Suicide

In order to try to measure the acuteness of mental health issues, we asked those fans who said that they believed they had a mental health problem (38% of the entire sample group), about suicide.

52% of this cohort (who recognised they had a mental health problem) said they had considered taking their own life (this represents 13% of the entire sample group)

85% had considered the method they would use to take their own life
21.5% said they had made plans/preparations (3% of the entire sample group)
21.5% said they had made at least one attempt (3% of the entire sample group)

The age category most commonly considering taking their own life was 26-40 bracket at 34%, followed by 41-55 at 28%. However, the most common age for at least one attempt to take their own life was 41-55 at 43% followed by 28-40 at 36%

Getting and seeking help

Again, of the cohort who said that they DID believe they have a mental health problem , we explored their efforts to get help for these issues.

34% said that they had never spoken to someone or sought help for their issues with 66% saying that they had reached out in some way. Extrapolating those who had considered taking their own lives, we found that 28% had still never sought help.

Of those who had reached out for help, on multiple choice questions, the resources used were;

GP - 62%
Psychotherapy/counselling -71%
Friends/family - 65%
Samaritans/Shout etc - 11%

We explored with those who had not sought help or discussed their problems WHY they had not taken steps. Again this was a multiple choice question with more than one possible answer;

20% said they felt it was embarrassing and a sign of weakness
47% said they were afraid to admit their problems to their friends or family
64% said that they did not know where to begin

Among comments made by respondents, the most common thread was that individuals believed they ought to be able to deal with their own problems. ‘I thought it was up to me to deal with my problems’/’I feel I should be able to deal with them myself.’

Conclusions and brief analysis

The survey, self-selecting and with a narrow constituency of just Chelsea fans is not scientific . As an anonymised survey, we are confident in the veracity of answers given to some difficult questions, but we do not propose that these results reflect the mental health situation in wider society. It offers us a snapshot of how Chelsea fans, the group that Over The Line was set up to help, are currently coping with – or not – their mental health issues after a prolonged period of difficulty during the pandemic.

Among the key conclusions that we can draw from this survey is that admitting or recognising a mental health problem continues to be difficult for many, despite how a person may be feeling or suffering. It may also be that individuals simply do not recognise what a mental health problem is, that things have to be critically or life-threateningly bad in order for a person to feel that they qualify for that description and thus find worth in seeking help. Despite suffering quite acute symptoms such as anxiety and depression, low self-esteem and other serious and debilitating symptoms, 63% of all those who completed the survey do not consider themselves to have mental health issues. This is despite an average 1.6 symptoms per respondent being suffered. This may indeed be part of the process whereby people often believe such difficulties are an unavoidable part of life. However, it becomes more of a curiosity when one considers that 22% of respondents who do not believe they have mental health problem suffered from 3 or more debilitating symptoms.

All of those we asked about suicide had stated that they believed and had recognised that they had a mental health problem, but a noticeable number (28%) of those who had considered taking their own lives had still not found a way to reach out. It continues to be necessary for the mental health community to place more importance on helping people understand just what constitutes a 'mental health problem’, to put it into more relatable contexts, and to help people distinguish between severe mental disorders/illness and poor mental health and wellbeing. We would also recognise that this figure regarding seeking help may have been somewhat affected by the pressures on the already challenged mental health system as a result of the pandemic, however, we should also note that our question related to whether or not the respondents had sought help in the first place.

We were startled to find that of people who had confronted and accepted their mental health issues, a significant number had contemplated taking their own lives. Over 50% said this had been considered – and a figure of 13% for the entire respondent cohort is worrying. Even more so that many of those who had contemplated taking their own lives had gone on to make plans to do so and to make at least one attempt (21% of this cohort and 3% of the entire survey sample group)

It is important to note that the majority of those who did accept that they have a mental health problem HAD reached out for help and this is encouraging. However, besides the common feelings of embarrassment or stigmas about reaching out, the biggest barrier to seeking help among those who had not done so was that they did not know where to begin (64%). Over The Line is therefore a service that has come at the right moment and will continue to help those who do not acknowledge or understand their own mental health to do so, as well as offer practical signposting to services that can help them begin their journey to a better place.

August 2021