A group of adults from The Albion Foundation’s Team Talk initiative were welcomed to Villa Park by the Aston Villa Foundation for their ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’ event.
The team enjoyed a variety of activities designed to help them learn more about improving their mental health, which follows on nicely from their wellbeing-focused Team Talk sessions.
Participants created food packages to be handed out in the local community, were taught how eating healthily benefits mental health, and then took part in fun active football matches – and it turned out to be a “fantastic” day according to Wellbeing Coordinator Tom Lane.
Tom said: “It’s been great, it’s been really nice to connect with other organisations to see what they do around the mental health space. It’s been good for our guys to meet new people from other Foundations, some of them have met before so it’s been a good time to connect.
“The workshops have been fantastic, they’ve covered a range of different subjects, from diet to mindfulness and reflecting on their own experiences. As an experience it’s been really good.
“I think they’ll take a lot away from today, the key messages have been around looking after themselves, being mindful about their routines and what they do outside their sessions – reinforcing a lot of the messages we’ve put forward in our sessions.
“It’s vital [for them to learn about these topics] men and mental health isn’t something that’s too openly talked about, to have this safe space where it becomes the main topic is really important.”
Team Talk participant Adam Smith learned plenty about mental health and wellbeing from his trip to Villa Park.
“I’ve learned about how mental health is so flexible,” Adam said. “How your own life can benefit your mental health.
“Everyone goes through little moments in life, so that little bit of encouragement can help a lot. It’s what community work is all about, we’ve been playing football, we’re playing with a kind manner where it’s just helping each other and motivating each other.
“It’s what our community should be about and it brings the best out of football.”
Fellow participant Braveen Tharmabalan says the day was focused on “teamwork” and learning to overcome different challenges through the strength of yourself and others.
“I’ve enjoyed it a lot,” Braveen said. “As soon as we got here it was straight to the point, we’ve learned a lot about our mental health and our diet – I’ve enjoyed the sessions.
“It’s all about teamwork, everyone’s been working in the group together, we’ve been meeting new faces. We’ve got to know each other and now we’re having a kick about together, it’s really good.”
