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Initiative

1st Pan-Hellenic Football Championship for Mental Health

1st Pan-Hellenic Football Championship for Mental Health
SUBMITTED FROM:

EDRA

EDRA supporting the quality of life and the rehabilitation/integration process of disadvantaged individuals being at risk of social exclusion, as well as programs for the prevention & the sensitization of the community around mental health problems and the promotion of mental health in general.

Read more: www.edra-coop.gr


Contact

Objective Action

  • Activating and socializing people confronting mental health problems through football, the most popular sport in the world
  • Emphasizing the importance of Sports and Exercise for Mental Health
  • The establishment of an annual event that will bring together mental health organisations from all over Greece
  • Ensuring equal opportunities for everyone to play football
  • Inclusion in the sport of football for vulnerable social groups
  • The spread of the noble values ​​of football and sport in general
  • Informing - raising the awareness of the general public on mental health issues and combating the stigma
 

Target Audience

  • Mental health services providers in the Greek territory
  • Mental health service recipients
  • Mental health Professionals
  • General public
 

Duration

Planning: November 2019.

Implementation: September 7-29, 2019.


Description

KSDEO "EDRA" has implemented for many years sports activities for people with mental health problems at National and European level (Athletic Event for Mental Health & Mental Retardation, 1st European Sport & Physical Exercise Event for Mental Health), and consequently developed the idea of ​​organizing a Pan-Hellenic Five-a-side Football Championship for people with mental illness and mental retardation.

For the implementation of the 1st Pan-Hellenic Football Mental Health Championship, EDRA cooperated with the Hellenic Football Federation – HFF, whose Technical Committee approved the participation, undertaking to cover the needs related to the organisation of the Championship and the logistical infrastructure (stadiums, referees, medical coverage, accommodation and travelling in the Final phase, promotional material, medals, etc.).

Almost all Mental Health services providers operating nationwide, under the Psychiatric Reform Programme "PSYCHARGOS", under the auspices of the Ministry of Health, were invited by EDRA.

Twenty teams of Mental Health providers from all over Greece participated in the Championship, consisting of mental health service recipients and mental health professionals.

The Championship included:

1. Regional qualifying games on the weekends:

  • 7-8/9/2019, in the city of Edessa and Ioannina
  • 14-15/9/2019, in the city of Lamia
  • 21-22/9/2019, in the city of Athens

2. Final phase, on 28-29th September, 2019, in Athens, at Agios Kosmas National Youth Sports Centre, where 4 regional champions and 4 Attica qualifiers played in order to decide the Champion of Greece.

In order to have better publicity of the initiative, a formal joint press conference was held from EDRA and HFF, where the competition program and the final phase participants were presented.

The event had important innovative elements:

  • It was the first National Football Championship for mental health service recipients, officially recognized by the Hellenic Football Federation
  • The matches were held with no presence of referees. The participants made their own decisions, with fairness and respect, in a non-conflict match
  • It was the first initiative held under the institutional cooperation of HFF, the central football authority that is responsible for the organisation and development of football in Greece, that incorporated the event into the “Same field” social program, which is a crucial component of the general UEFA-approved six-year development plan of the Federation
  • EDRA, as President of the European Network of Active Living for Mental Health ENALMH set the initiative in its broader activities, as part of an active lifestyle for all, "sport for the soul".

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Impact on Society

280 organisations providing mental health services throughout Greece were invited to the event. Several of them, from various regions of Greece, responded with great enthusiasm to the call:

  • Athens: 11 organisations
  • Thessaly - Central Greece: 4 organisations
  • Ioannina: 2 organisations
  • Macedonia: 2 organisations
  • Tripoli: 1 organisation

In addition, there were several organisations that expressed their interest in a future initiative, due to their inability to participate in the event.

For the first time, 182 mental health services recipients and mental health professionals met and played together in the same field, in a national football event.

Overall, the objectives set out in the original planning of the initiative were largely achieved, as the Mental Health Organisations incorporated football into their activities, mobilized their recipients and intensified their training in the preparation period, reaping significant benefits for them. The participants had the opportunity to get acquainted with the sport of football, participate actively, visit other areas of the country and get in touch with other recipients from all over Greece.

Also, in the final phase:

  • regional organisations had the opportunity to travel and stay for 3 days in Athens, with the financial support of HFF
  • The participants met on the same field with the European Champion of the Euro Football Games 2004 and National Men's Athletic Director Mr. Takis Fyssas, as well as with the former International Footballer and National Team Technical Director Mr. Kostas Constantinidis.

Finally, the communication material and the overall communication strategy that was used from the organizers to promote the event and its goals (press releases, press conferences, social media promotion, etc.) enabled the general public to become aware of the mental health-related initiative.



Initiative Location

  • Athens, with the participation of Attica and Tripoli
  • Thessaly - Central Greece: with the participation of organisations from Volos, Lamia and Larissa
  • Ioannina, with the participation of local organisations
  • Macedonia, with the participation of organisations from Giannitsa and Polygyros Halkidiki

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Working with Organization

The 1st Pan-Hellenic Football Mental Health Championship was organized by K.S.D.E.O. “EDRA”, in collaboration with the Hellenic Football Federation - HFF.

The following organizations from all over Greece participated in the Championship:


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Workers Participation

There were important elements for the success of the event:

  • 182 recipients of mental health services and mental health professionals participated in the Championship
  • 15 staff members of the Organizing Committee of EDRA, from the Communication Department, the Financial Services, the two Boarding Houses and the two Protected Apartments of the organisation
  • 15 executives and employees in the HFF Organizing Committee, from the Divisions: Strategic Development, Communication, Marketing, International Relations, National Teams, as well as 2 doctors.

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Benefits for Οrganization

  • Enhancement of therapeutic programs, in order to improve the provided services to EDRA’S recipients
  • Further consolidate EDRA as a pioneering organisation in Mental Health and Sports sector
  • Promotion and wider publicity of EDRA’s activities
  • Maintaining staff’s active interest-stimulus, as result of the cooperation with HFF and the other organisations
  • Networking with other organisations



Connection with Global Goals







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