LooseHeadz making a difference in mental health
LooseHeadz clothing kit is helping fund their campaign to put a mental health lead into every club.
If you have seen people around rugby clubs wearing LooseHeadz clothing, that kit is helping fund their campaign to put a mental health lead into every club.
The kit also prompts conversations about mental health and helps to remove the stigma that stops people talking about mental health challenges
Mark Shotton, one of the founders of LooseHeadz, says: “In 2017 I was 50 and realising I needed to retire from playing. It was a sunny April day, and I was in the Wilmslow club bar with a few mates and was gripped by an overwhelming feeling, this was the last time I would be putting my boots on. I shared it with my son Rob and we both thought that if someone came to us when they were not feeling their best what help could we offer?
Removing the stigma around mental ill health
“I’d coached my son from the U6s and had seen two or three of the lads in that team struggle and I was very conscious that as a coach I’d become a role model for some of them and what mattered was they had a place they could belong every Sunday.”
With his son Rob and friend Dave Nicholl, Mark set up LooseHeadz to “help remove the stigma around admitting you have an issue around mental health and focus on mental health fitness.”
They are now involved in around 450 clubs, including some as far away as America, and have won support from the likes of David Flatman, Lawrence Dallaglio and their patron, Shaun Edwards.
Belonging to something bigger
“Mental ill health doesn’t know any boundaries,” says Mark. “We feel we have a duty to offer a mental fitness regime which includes staying active, staying fit and belonging to something bigger than yourself, your local rugby club.”
LooseHeadz would like to see a mental health lead in every rugby club around the world and they have an online app for all players in a club to sign up to, with an algorithm prioritising conversations that need to be had.
Talk Club is another positive. “That helps men of a certain age who don’t usually talk to each other. The maximum group size is ten and if you can get a bloke to join you are on the right track,” says Mark.
And now they have signed up to Shout, a 24-hour a day service where you text ‘SHOUT’ to 85258 and enquiries are answered in confidence by a trained psychiatrist.
Dave, Mark and Rob have more than 60 years of rugby playing experience between them, and their campaign #TackleTheStigma aims to help people with mental health fitness and avoid the kind of isolation that can be disastrous.
“We had someone from our rugby club commit suicide and, as with many, nobody would ever have known how that person was feeling. It’s a tragedy on every level. We need to bind ourselves together by more than a scoreline, and to know that what is more important is that you are all there together playing or watching the match. That we are there for each other”
For more information visit looseheadz.co.uk and take a look at their welcome pack here: LooseHeadz Welcome Pack.pdf
