Burnley FC in the Community launches £442k Schools Mental Wellbeing Project

Burnley FC in the Community launched its Schools’ Mental Wellbeing Project – a borough-wide initiative that will see the Clarets’ official charity place a full-time mental health worker in five Burnley secondary schools for the next three years.

With statistics showing that 50 per cent of mental health problems are established by the age of 14, the aim of the project is to offer sustained mental health support to young people in the town. The hope is that the work will also forge a lasting, positive change both in attitudes to mental health and outlooks for young people living with varying mental health conditions.

Neil Hart, chief executive officer of Burnley FC in the Community, said: “We wanted to put mental health at the top of our agenda for the season and so made the strategic decision to allocate 100% of the funds from our PL/PFA funding for 2018/19 into mental health provision.

“Some of the statistics around mental health are shocking. We want to be part of changing those prospects for our young people – it’s time to stop overlooking all these unsettling numbers and, instead, give them the help they clearly need.

Councillor Mark Townsend, leader of Burnley Council, said: “Headteachers in Burnley schools told us that we have to do something to help improve the mental health of our young people. This project, which I am pleased to say will be part-funded by Burnley Council, will support young people to be more emotionally resilient.

Mark Youlton, chief officer of East Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “Supporting the mental health of school age children is very important to us all. Good mental health allows children and young people to develop their resilience to cope with whatever life throws at them and grow into well-rounded, happy and healthy adults.

Ruth England, headteacher at Shuttleworth College, said: “In a landscape where mental health issues are having a greater and greater impact on the lives of our young people, it is very exciting and heartening to be part of initiatives such as this.

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