More than 200 locals took part in activities ranging from walking cricket to music lessons at Lord’s as The Home of Cricket opened to mark World Mental Health Day yesterday (Monday).
The event was part of a joint project led by MCC and MIND Brent, Wandsworth and Westminster aimed at both raising awareness and helping people facing a range of mental health and wellbeing issues through weekly sessions physical and group activities led by MCC community staff. department.
The project which originally ran for six weeks over the summer has now been extended after three quarters (75%) of program participants reported improvements in their mental health and wellbeing. They were joined at Lord’s yesterday by more than 100 local schoolchildren from St. Augustine’s and St. Vincent’s schools who took part in cricket sessions and mental health conversation workshops run by the Cricket Overture, a mental health and suicide prevention charity, supported by current England international Kate Cross.
“It’s fantastic to see Lord welcoming young and old members of the local community to come together for fun activities, workshops and more”
President of the CMC Stephen Frywho is also president of MIND recorded a special video to mark the event, and says:
“World Mental Health Day is a vital reminder of acceptance, awareness and understanding of mental health and as Chairman of MCC and Mind it is fantastic to see Lord welcoming young and old members of the local community to come together for fun activities, workshops and more.
“Physical activity, and in particular group physical activity, has been proven to improve mental health; it can help manage stress and anxiety, it can make you feel better about yourself, and it can help you connect with other people and make new friends.”
Ricky ReynoldsMCC’s Community and Inclusion Manager added:
“Yesterday was a great way to celebrate World Mental Health Day and highlight the role cricket can play in solving a range of mental health issues.
“We know how important physical and group activity can be, but one of the things we learned from the program over the summer was the importance of hosting the sessions at Lord’s as a setting for Our aim is to grow the program so that we, working alongside MIND, can help even more people in our local community who may be experiencing mental health issues.
World Mental Health Day takes place every year and is supported by the World Health Organization. This year’s theme was “making mental health and well-being for all a global priority”.
