Rugby League Cares and State of Mind working in partnership are calling on men across the North West to stand shoulder to shoulder and foster good mental health by participating in an exciting new project which aims to enhance their quality of life.
Run in association with Rugby League Cares and the Super League club charitable foundations at Salford Red Devils, Warrington Wolves and Widnes Vikings, ‘Offload’ will provide a support network for men to improve their mental health and make professional help and assistance more accessible than ever before. State of Mind’s Dr. Phil Cooper (North West Boroughs Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust) has been instrumental in developing the content for the 10 fixtures being delivered in the clubs with State of Mind’s former players with lived experience of different issues and how this relates to how clubs manage the mental fitness of their players.
Offload is a Big Lottery funded project; being run by a number of partners, led by Salford Red Devils, Warrington Wolves and Widnes Vikings with Rugby League Cares. The project content has been devised by State of Mind, the club foundations and supported by Oddballs
Suicide is the biggest killer of males under 50 and a leading cause of death in young males Offload is a mental fitness programme that invites men to come and see how professional rugby league clubs manage and coach players in a range of ways to improve their mental fitness.
It is claimed that men are hard to reach but we do not think this is the case as we think that men will come if the location is safe and the information is presented in ways that are practical in their lives
The programme consists of 10 fixtures where each fixture will have two halves (40 minutes).
First half has personal stories and evidence based tools to build mental fitness
Second half is interactive, club based activities
Basic mental fitness
Coping strategies
Stress management techniques
Using resilience to manage setbacks
Mindfulness
Five ways to wellbeing
Work life balance
Anger management
Emotional resilience
Solution focused problem solving
To access the fixtures in Salford, Warrington and Widnes please contact
For more information on Offload at Salford please call the Salford Red Devils Foundation on 0161 786 1591 or 07538 042666 or visit www.salfordreddevilsfoundation.co.uk
Full details of Offload at Warrington Wolves call James Howes on 01925 248894 or visit www.wolvesfoundation.com
Offload sessions in Widnes take place every Tuesday evening 6.30pm til 8.00pm at Halton Stadium. For more information call 0151 495 2250 (option 4) or email adam@widnesvikings.co.uk