Young people from North London came together at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this week to kick off a conversation on mental health as part of the Premier League's Inside Matters campaign.
Fifty participants from Tottenham Hotspur Foundation's Premier League Inspires programme took part in activities that focused on mindfulness, core daily habits and overcoming stress.
The students from Mulberry Academy Woodside in Haringey and Holy Family Catholic School in Walthamstow also had sessions exploring how music impacts the brain, breath-work and meditation.
"There were a really nice range of activities to help students challenge perceptions around mental health," said Jemima Rees, deputy head of Year 8 at Mulberry Academy, who said the day has inspired her try to incorporate meditation, journalling and other exercises for children in school.
"It's not necessarily a massive investment of time you need to make to have actually quite a significant impact on your ability to manage emotions - the main struggle, I think, a lot of our students face.
"It's something we don't explicitly teach and yet we expect them to do. To have this time away from the school environment, it's the first time most of the students will have had an in-depth think about mindfulness, meditation and wellbeing."
Students also received education on healthy food and drink choices, through a smoothie-making workshop, whilst there were presentations from Kooth.com, an online space of support and counselling for young people.
And the team from St Anne's Catholic School for Girls, who represented Tottenham Hotspur Foundation at the recent Premier League Inspires Challenge celebration at Wembley Stadium, were on hand to speak about their social action project on mental health.
"I learnt how important it is to have a routine and keep things simple," said Zahra, a Year 8 student from Mulberry Academy. "Not everything has to be overly complicated.
"I'll also take away things about organising yourself and keeping fit during your day, as well as meditating. I feel like I can really use that to calm down sometimes."
What is Premier League Inspires?
Premier League Inspires uses the appeal of football to help children and young people aged 11-18 to develop the personal skills and positive attitude to succeed in life. More than 29,000 young people have received more than 125,000 hours of targeted support across 960+ schools and educational facilities since the programme's launch in 2019.
The programme is delivered by 45 professional football club community organisations and is supported by the Professional Footballers' Association and the Premier League. More than £11.1m has been invested into the programme, via the Premier League Charitable Fund.
For further mental health support, fans can head to: Get help | Mental Health Foundation
