Section SOCIETY
TOPIC

EDRA
Pan-Hellenic Football Championship for Mental Health
  • Activating and socializing people confronting mental health problems through football, the most popular sport in the world
  • Emphasizing the importance of Sports and Exercise for Mental Health
  • The establishment of an annual event that will bring together mental health organisations from all over Greece
  • Ensuring equal opportunities for everyone to play football
  • Inclusion in the sport of football for vulnerable social groups
  • The spread of the noble values ​​of football and sport in general
  • Informing - raising the awareness of the general public on mental health issues and combating the stigma
  • Mental health services providers in the Greek territory
  • Mental health service recipients
  • Mental Health Professionals
  • General public

Year-round implementation with a continuous athletic program in each Mental Health Unit that participated

KSDEO "EDRA" has implemented for many years sports activities for people with mental health problems at National and European level (Athletic Event for Mental Health & Mental Retardation, 1st European Sport & Physical Exercise Event for Mental Health), and consequently developed the idea of ​​organizing a Pan-Hellenic Five-a-side Football Championship for people with mental illness and mental retardation.

For the implementation of the 1st Pan-Hellenic Football Mental Health Championship, EDRA cooperated with the Hellenic Football Federation – HFF, whose Technical Committee approved the participation, undertaking to cover the needs related to the organisation of the Championship and the logistical infrastructure (stadiums, referees, medical coverage, accommodation and travelling in the Final phase, promotional material, medals, etc.).

Almost all Mental Health services providers operating nationwide, under the Psychiatric Reform Programme "PSYCHARGOS", under the auspices of the Ministry of Health, were invited by EDRA.

Twenty teams of Mental Health providers from all over Greece participated in the Championship, consisting of mental health service recipients and mental health professionals.

The Championship included:

1. Regional qualifying games on the weekends:

  • 7-8/9/2019, in the city of Edessa and Ioannina
  • 14-15/9/2019, in the city of Lamia
  • 21-22/9/2019, in the city of Athens

2. Final phase, on 28-29th September, 2019, in Athens, at Agios Kosmas National Youth Sports Centre, where 4 regional champions and 4 Attica qualifiers played in order to decide the Champion of Greece.

In order to have better publicity of the initiative, a formal joint press conference was held from EDRA and HFF, where the competition program and the final phase participants were presented.

The event had important innovative elements:

  • It was the first National Football Championship for mental health service recipients, officially recognized by the Hellenic Football Federation
  • The matches were held with no referees present. The participants made their own decisions, with fairness and respect, in a non-conflict match
  • It was the first initiative held under the institutional cooperation of HFF, the central football authority that is responsible for the organisation and development of football in Greece, that incorporated the event into the “Same field” social program, which is a crucial component of the general UEFA-approved six-year development plan of the Federation
  • EDRA, as President of the European Network of Active Living for Mental Health ENALMH set the initiative in its broader activities, as part of an active lifestyle for all, "sport for the soul".

The 1st Pan-Hellenic Football Mental Health Championship was organized by K.S.D.E.O. “EDRA”, in collaboration with the Hellenic Football Federation - HFF.

The following organizations from all over Greece participated in the Championship:

There were important elements for the success of the event:

  • 15 staff members of the Organizing Committee of EDRA, from the Communication Department, the Financial Services, the two Boarding Houses, and the two Protected Apartments of the organisation
  • 15 executives and employees in the HFF Organizing Committee, from the divisions: Strategic Development, Communication, Marketing, International Relations, National Teams, and 2 doctors.
  • Athens: with the organization of educational activities as well as the Final Phase of the Championship at the Municipal Stadium of Voula
  • Thessaly - Central Greece: with the organization of friendly matches and training, along with the participation of organizations from Volos, Lamia, and Larissa
  • Macedonia: educational activities with the participation of organizations from Giannitsa and Polygyros, Chalkidiki

280 organisations providing mental health services throughout Greece were invited to the event. Several of them, from various regions of Greece, responded with great enthusiasm to the call:

  • Athens: 11 organisations
  • Thessaly - Central Greece: 4 organisations
  • Ioannina: 2 organisations
  • Macedonia: 2 organisations
  • Tripoli: 1 organisation

In addition, there were several organisations that expressed their interest in a future initiative, due to their inability to participate in the event.

For the first time, 182 mental health services recipients and mental health professionals met and played together in the same field, in a national football event.

Overall, the objectives set out in the original planning of the initiative were largely achieved, as the Mental Health Organisations incorporated football into their activities, mobilized their recipients, and intensified their training in the preparation period, reaping significant benefits for them. The participants had the opportunity to get acquainted with the sport of football, participate actively, visit other areas of the country, and get in touch with other recipients from all over Greece.

Also, in the final phase:

  • Regional organisations had the opportunity to travel and stay for 3 days in Athens, with the financial support of HFF
  • The participants met on the same field with the European Champion of the Euro Football Games 2004 and National Men's Athletic Director Mr. Takis Fyssas, as well as with the former International Footballer and National Team Technical Director Mr. Kostas Constantinidis.

Finally, the communication material and the overall communication strategy that was used by the organizers to promote the event and its goals (press releases, press conferences, social media promotion, etc.) enabled the general public to become aware of the mental health-related initiative.
  • Enhancement of therapeutic programs, to improve the provided services to EDRA’s recipients
  • Further consolidate EDRA as a pioneering organisation in the Mental Health and Sports sector
  • Promotion and wider publicity of EDRA’s activities
  • Maintaining staff’s active interest-stimulus, as a result of the cooperation with HFF and the other organisations
  • Networking with other organisations