Heart and Mind
Educating the Heart and Mind: Supporting Boys and Men Through Football
Some men will never walk into a therapy room. That does not mean they do not need support. It means the door has to look different.
What This Programme Is
Heart and Mind is Soccology’s psychoeducation curriculum for boys and men, that uses football as a tool to discuss sensitive topics from a distance, as a group. Individually, participants attach what they learn to their own experience and are given space to sit with that privately, on their own terms.
The programme explores identity, confidence, childhood, self regulation, anxiety, resilience, self esteem, love and belonging, and help seeking behaviour.
This model has been delivered in some of the most challenging environments for engagement anywhere in the sector. Soccology has worked inside youth offending institutes and adult prisons, within alternative provision and SEND schools, and in partnership with community trusts including Charlton Athletic and Millwall Community Trust.
““I thought the Soccology sessions were brilliant… they (attendees) have opened up a lot more and said that they have found certain topics such as ‘love’ extremely interesting and a lot of my students have said it has encouraged them to think about their feelings a lot more.””
Across these settings, the programme has consistently reached boys and men who had previously rejected traditional mental health interventions.
“130 participants who rejected traditional interventions, have engaged through football based delivery. 30% have gone on to self refer for therapy.”
Football is not simply a hook for engagement. It is a psychologically safe vehicle through which men who have never accessed support can be met on their own terms, given language for what they feel, and guided toward help they would not otherwise have sought.
Who it is for: Boys and men aged 12+
Also available as: Training for staff and professionals working with young people and vulnerable adults
Why Football, Why This Approach
Suppression is a common coping strategy. For many men, therapy does not read as support. It reads as a threat to the coping strategy that has kept them functioning.
Stigma is part of the reason men do not engage with traditional mental health support, but it is not the whole story. The bigger obstacle is the size of the step. Going from no access to support, from years of suppressing and repressing emotion, straight into a therapy room is too far a jump for most.
Soccology exists to build the step in between.
How It Works
Football gives us access to the different layers of a person. The game itself. The persona a man puts on to play it. The escapism it offers. The emotions men will comfortably express in relation to football that they would never express elsewhere.
We use all of it, matched to different learning needs and preferences, through:
Group discussion and debate
Football and arts based activities
Role play
Analysis of written and live case studies, including visits from professional players
“One of my students, who is suffering from severe mental health problems yet will not take any support from external parties, asked to speak to Kevin from Soccology after his first session with the group. He resonated with a lot of the issues raised in the Soccology session. Kevin then held one to one sessions with him, and this was a fantastic step for my student in reaching out for help. I would recommend Soccology sessions to any young group, as it is a process that helps to normalise issues around mental health and provides an open environment for people to vocalise their thoughts and feelings in a positive setting.”
Programme Structure
Heart and Mind runs across a full year, delivered termly in blocks of 7 weeks.
Each participant receives:
A signed copy of the Soccology book
A certificate of completion, based on attendance and engagement
Bring Heart and Mind to Your Organisation
If you work with boys and men who have been written off as hard to reach, this programme was built for exactly that population. Get in touch to discuss delivery for your school, trust, facility or organisation.