Kick-starting Men's Mental Health: An Evaluation of the Effect of Playing Football on Mental Health Service Users' Well-Being

Previous research has shown that playing in a football team can have many positive benefits for mental health, including reducing social isolation and improving confidence. This article reports the findings of an evaluation of a football team. Ten participants with a variety of mental health issues took part. Participants were interviewed. Information, both quantitative and qualitative, was obtained concerning their experiences. Quantitative data was summarised and qualitative data was examined for themes. Players reported benefits such as improvements to their mental health, ability to deal better with their mental health problems, improved confidence and gains to their social life. Playing football has had a number of positive effects on the lives of the participants, and minimal negative effects were noted. Benefits both in the short and longer term may be gained. The results are in keeping with previous evidence suggesting that football is a useful supplement to traditional interventions.