Time to Talk Day is a national awareness campaign from Time to Change, to help raise awareness of mental health and to help challenge the stigma that surrounds mental health, even today.

Time to Talk Day 2021 takes place on 4^th February 2021 and encourages open discussion on the topic of mental health. Communication is key to this campaign and its aim is to encourage conversations around mental health and to help shed some of the barriers that still surround it. Nobody should be made to feel low, ashamed, vulnerable or isolated simply because of having mental health problem(s) and instead should be encouraged and championed to speak out and reach out to anyone, from organisations to loved ones, in a non-judgemental and welcoming way that helps to inspire confidence in themselves.

Hampshire FA’s partnership with Havant & East Hants Mind was established last year and at a time when the world faced a new uncertainty arising from the onset of COVID-19. The pandemic brought the world several new words which have been used interchangeably throughout the year and which became the new ‘normal’ in our conversations and across our media. Terms such as bubbles, tiers, lockdowns and self-isolate have become familiar terms during 2020 and early 2021. As a result, it is no surprise that organisations such as Mind have seen a rise in people reaching out and wanting help, advice and guidance to help cope with this ever-evolving and uncertain situation.

Together with Havant & East Hants Mind, Hampshire FA has delivered a fortnightly social media Q&A session on the topic of ‘mental health within football and our clubs’ to help encourage followers and the football community to respond to various questions and increase interaction at such a time. The fortnightly initiative hosted by Hampshire FA will conclude on the 2^nd February with a view to restart later in the year, relaunched during winter months when people are most likely to suffer from seasonal affective disorder.

To continue playing our part in helping to encourage conversations, we are delighted to be teaming up to support the Time to Talk Day 2021 which will also have a football focus aimed at children. Hampshire FA will promote a weekly activity to help inspire creativity and allow children to open up and connect all whilst keeping the focus on the beautiful game at a time when grassroots football has been brought to a halt (something which has affected many of us in different ways).

Hampshire FA will promote a Time to Talk Day bingo to encourage conversations from the Twitter community, however, to create a legacy from the awareness day, which is on the 4^th February, will promote 3 activities for the following weeks aimed at children to complete. Children do not have to be involved in a youth football club to complete the activity and all are welcome to partake in the weekly activities even if they only have football as an interest.

Hampshire FA Time to Talk Day - Activities

Week commencing 25^th January – 4^th February 2021 activity

Time to Change - Bingo activity (download bingo sheet - bottom of page)

Week commencing 8^th February 2021 activity

Draw a picture of a large football and pretending it’s a brain, fill the football or ‘brain’ up with all the things that make you happy (on the right-hand side) and the things that make you not-so-happy (on the left-hand side). It can be as colourful or as sparkly as you like! Take a photo and send the pictures of your ‘football brains’ through to Communications@HampshireFA.com.

Week commencing 15^th February 2021 activity

Write a short poem (it doesn’t have to rhyme) about your football club or about football in general (if you’re not part of a club) and how the club/football makes you feel you feel when you play it, or how it makes you feel when you don’t play it. If you can’t write a poem, then write a short paragraph. Send your poems or paragraphs through to Communications@HampshireFA.com. We will share them on social media channels and tag in the football clubs mentioned.  

Week commencing 22^nd February 2021 activity

Using football-based equipment (footballs, cones, bibs, whistles, water bottles or football kit), map out a picture/display using the items and tell us what you have designed and why. If you don’t have these items, use any items you have at home to create a display, but the display must be linked to football in some way. For example, using all the equipment/items that you have, you could map out a display of a happy face. The happy face is how football makes you feel when you play it or how having football friends makes you happy etc. Take a photo of your display and tell us what it means, sending it to: Communications@HampshireFA.com.

The activities will be also be shared at the start of each week above on Hampshire FA’s Twitter channel with the hashtag #TimeToTalk. With parental supervision, these pieces of work can be sent to Hampshire FA’s communications email account: Communications@HampshireFA.com. The county FA will then share the work sent in on the association’s Twitter channel. For safeguarding purposes, no names or any form of identification of the children will be publicised and all posts will be kept anonymous, with the work simply being shared.

To get involved, simply complete the activities above and send through the work to Communications@HampshireFA.com. That’s it!

Useful contacts & links:

If you are struggling or know someone who is struggling with their mental health, be it an adult or a child, please reach out to organisations such as the Havant & East Hants Mind charity who can help: