An English soccer club and a member of parliament (MP) have collaborated with a dozen doctors\u2019 surgeries to introduce football as a treatment for mental health in part of the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n
The initiative, which is called Football on Prescription, offers opportunities to play five-a-side or walking football for people over 50 with loneliness and mental illness issues, with the aim of reducing the need for medication. Walking football is a less competitive form of football that bans running and slide-tackling to make the sport more accessible.<\/p>\n
Forest Green Rovers, who compete in the fifth tier of English football, are the club linked to the initiative and have also offered free match tickets to participants.<\/p>\n
The pilot scheme is available to people who see their doctor about mental health in around 12 surgeries in the south west of England, where Forest Green are based.<\/p>\n
Doctors and nurses will have the ability to \u201cprescribe football if the patient and doctor feel it could help mental illness or feelings of isolation\u201d, according to a release on Forest Green\u2019s website. The scheme will collect data as it goes to assess its impact and could be expanded if results are positive.<\/p>\n
\u201cResearch shows that physical activity improves mental and physical health,\u201d said Dr Simon Opher, the local MP for Stroud who co-launched the initiative alongside Forest Green chairman Dale Vince. \u201cWe also know that social isolation plays a major role in poor mental health \u2014 and that community, connection, and shared experiences can help people feel less alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis initiative brings those two ideas together. It\u2019s a form of social prescription \u2014 with football as the medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the most recent statistics from the National Health Service (NHS) in England, 2.1 million people were in contact with mental health services at the end of May, 1.39m of them with adult mental health services.<\/p>\n