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Alex Welsh

Suicide is the biggest killer of young men in the UK and costs the NHS huge sums of money. In 2005 the London Playing Fields Foundation launched ‘Coping Through Football’, a programme which uses football as part of a holistic health solution to transform and enrich the lives of its service users, all of whom have been referred following diagnosis of a severe and enduring mental health condition. LPPF treats its service users like athletes. They play on a real pitch, with real kit and real coaches. Globally, Coping Through Football is the most evaluated programme linking sport to mental health.

Sport as a magic pill

A former professional footballer and teacher, Alex is currently Chief Executive of London Playing Field Foundation with whom he has been an employee since 1989. A part-time coach at Tottenham Hotspur Academy, and the author of two books, he has written several courses for The Football Association on coaching, administration and community development. Coping Through Football, one of a number of innovative projects devised by LPFF, helps people with significant mental health issues to get their lives back on track. Delivered in association with North East London Foundation Trust over four London boroughs, it is the most researched football and mental health project.