‘Get Your Head in the Game’ is an exciting new project hosted by QPR Community Trust in West London, aimed at local young men who want to improve confidence, build self-esteem and reduce stress. There will be a strong link to football throughout the six-week programme, which will take place at QPR’s Loftus Road Stadium. It will use a combination of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and physical activity to help guys understand how to tackle stress, anxiety and low mood so that they can achieve their goals.
The programme is funded by the NHS and has been put together by Queens Park Rangers Community Trust and Back On Track (Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies) service. It recognises that most of the services currently available have not been designed with men in mind, even though 2.7 million men currently experience difficulties with low mood, anxiety and other stress-related problems.
The programme uses football as a way of understanding how these problems affect all of us – from footballers on the pitch like Clarke Carlisle, Stan Collymore and Gary Speed, to the 1 in 4 fans in the stadium who have or will experience some form of psychological problem in their lives. CBT and physical activity have been shown to improve mood and reduce anxiety, and this programme will teach people how they can apply these skills in their own lives.
This fun and innovative project will begin in November and if you are a man aged between 18 and 25 and interested in taking part, please contact Alex Gordon on alexg@qpr.co.uk or 020 8740 2599.’ Download the poster HERE
