On Saturday 26 August the AFC Wimbledon Foundation welcomed us to their match with Doncaster Rovers to promote initiatives supporting mental health among Londoners and providing online health information for young people.
Two million Londoners will experience poor mental health each year. That’s the equivalent of 13 people on every bus, more than 100 people on every London Underground train or over 1,100 fans at a sell-out match at Wimbledon’s Cherry Red Records Stadium. With half of all lifetime cases of diagnosable mental illness beginning by age 14, and three-quarters by the mid-20s, the case for taking action early is clear.
Representatives of Thrive LDN were at the ground, together with AFC Wimbledon Foundation staff, speaking to fans and encouraging conversations about mental health, using problem-solving booths to get people talking.
Philip Rudling, Wimbledon Foundation Director, said:
The AFC Wimbledon Foundation looks forward to doing more work with its coaches, participants and in the community to support Thrive LDN, NHS Go and also the ASK About Asthma campaign.
Launched in July by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, Thrive LDN is a new city-wide movement that aims to get everyone talking and working together to improve the mental health and wellbeing of all Londoners. The launch was accompanied by a publication setting out six aspirations for the mental health and wellbeing of Londoners.
Alongside Thrive LDN, the AFC Wimbledon Foundation was helping to promote NHS Go, a health information app that was designed with, by and for young people aged from 16 to 24. Conceived as a result of conversations with hundreds of young people, the app addresses the lack of dependable, freely available health information for young people, and protects users’ confidentiality by not tracking webpages they access.
To date, the app has had over 50,000 downloads. It has won a Patient Experience National Award and been nominated for several other awards.
Read the Wimbledon Foundation programme from the Doncaster Rovers Match 26 August 2017: Doncaster programme
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