Saturday’s home fixture against Dagenham & Redbridge will be centred around Sunday’s World Suicide Prevention Day, with several organisations in attendance at the SMH Group Stadium providing a platform of support for those in need.
Volunteers from Derbyshire County Council Mental Health & Suicide Prevention team, Samaritans, Mentell and the Trust will be at the game, with cards containing key support information and helplines, as well as a Spireites fixture list for the 2023/24 campaign.
In conjunction with the cards being handed out, there will be mental health first aiders on site should anyone feel the need or want to speak with them.
There are approximately 100 suicides per year in Derbyshire, so the club is proud to be one of seven in Derbyshire who are dedicating a matchday to World Suicide Prevention Day. The others are Alfreton Town, Belper Town, Buxton, Glossop North End, Matlock Town and Sheffield FC.
Ahead of the fixture, the Trust, in conjunction with Derbyshire County Council Mental Health & Suicide Prevention team, spoke to a collection of attendees of Trust sessions/programmes and how this has had a positive effect on their mental health.
The full video is available on the Derbyshire County Council YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/7iX06gyMaWA?si=ebHO398GEhk3_aYt
At half-time in Saturday’s fixture, messages of support from Chesterfield first-team players will be displayed on the big screen.
The club and the Trust are proud to continue to support World Suicide Prevention Day, as well as seeing the difference that sessions offered by the Trust are making to people’s lives.
Trust wellbeing manager Andrea Parkinson said: “We’re happy to continue to support this campaign and invite other organisations, giving them the platform to spread the message and awareness of support that is available.”
