Mental health charity sponsors football club shirts

A woman from Maidenhead has said she "wouldn't still be here" if it was not for the partnership between a local football club and a national mental health charity.

Claire Smith said she was "completely isolated" after becoming too depressed and anxious to leave her house.

She said she was a "shell of a person" before deciding to attend a weekly walk put on by Maidenhead United Community Trust, as part of the club's partnership with the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) charity.

The partnership, which began in July 2023, includes the charity being the club's front-of-shirt sponsor and promotion for its app and helpline.

Unlike traditional shirt sponsors, CALM pays nothing and the space is instead funded by local businesses.

Charity chief executive Simon Gunning said since the arrangement started they had been able to "embed" their suicide prevention message in the community and had seen real results.

"We have an app that we've developed called Calm Zone," he said.

"When we launched it, we saw a far higher number of downloads from the Maidenhead and Slough areas."

Smith said she had used the app and helpline when she was struggling, after it was suggested by Maidenhead's community trust.

"I was in a very negative state and I felt it would be easier and I would be happier if I wasn't here anymore," she said.

But she said the support she had received had been "life changing" and she was now helping to support others in the same position.

"I was asked to be a volunteer to host the meetup group and that in itself was enough to start me climbing back up," she added.

It is not the first time a football club has used its platform to promote mental health awareness and support.

Oxford United launched their Can We Talk? campaign back in 2024, and Norwich City's viral video of two fans talking was viewed by millions of people.

Maidenhead United Chairman Peter Griffin believes "football is a real way of bringing people together" to talk about mental health.

He said the work the club did with CALM "reaches out across and uses football as a way to get people to open up and talk."

"It's been a real success," he added.