Racing right behind Mental Health Awareness Week

The charity Racing Welfare has outlined plans for its 2020 Mental Health Awareness Week campaign, which starts today. The week is a national initiative run by the Mental Health Foundation.

Racing Welfare leads racing’s response to the campaign, which this year is a fully digital campaign owing to Covid-19. 

Racing Welfare’s Chief Executive, Dawn Goodfellow, said: “Mental Health Awareness Week is a hugely important campaign for us and the industry as a whole and we are proud to lead the initiative on behalf of racing again this year. We’ve had to adapt our delivery of it this time but our aim of making it easier for people to talk about how they are feeling has not changed. 

“I’d like to thank all of our industry partners for their backing of the campaign; I believe it sends a very strong message of support to all who work within racing.”

Tying into the Mental Health Foundation’s theme for this year, Racing Welfare is undertaking ‘7 Days of Kindness’, and the charity will be publishing case studies and advice on subjects such as helping others, undertaking Mental Health First Aid training, self-care and combatting loneliness. This will be delivered through content across its social media platforms and website.  Racing Welfare has also linked up with industry stakeholders to gather their support for the campaign, all of whom will be coming together to spread the message to their own followers.

“Our mental health first aider, accredited thanks to a Racing Welfare course, has been invaluable,” said Paul Swain, Brand & Experience Manager at the Racecourse Association.

“We are proud to support Racing Welfare’s 7 Day of Kindness Campaign as part of the wider mental health awareness week and will continue to work closely with the charity to highlight the range of services which are available to all within the sport.”

Updates throughout the week will be posted here on the Racing Together website.

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