B7s ANNOUNCES OFFICIAL CHARITY PARTNER; LOOSEHEADZ

Bournemouth 7s Festival are delighted to announce that we have partnered with LooseHeadz this year as our Official Charity Partner 💙

Ahead of the event this year, we caught up with Rob, one of the co-founders at LooseHeadz: 

'My name is Rob; I’m one of the co-founders at LooseHeadz - the leading rugby mental health charity on a mission to place a mental health lead at every rugby club in the world and provide them with a free toolkit of resources to #TackleTheStigma.

We gave birth to LooseHeadz back in the summer of 2017 whilst having a conversation at the end of our rugby club bar in Wilmslow. All good rugby stories start in the bar…so does this one!

We all had mates that had what we described back then as a “life wobble” but we could never find the words or actions to make things better. “You’ll be alright, mate” or “Fancy another beer, pal” is all we could muster…it simply wasn't good enough. That impotence drove us to form LooseHeadz. It was a gem of an idea back then…but we had to start somewhere. We wanted to be Good Samaritans and not cross on the other side of the road. We know rugby (or at least we think we do) but it’s been a steep learning curve when it comes to mental health.

Everyone who has been part of a rugby club will know that the sport is full of togetherness, camaraderie, and that true ‘clubhouse feel’. We know that if you walk into any rugby club in the world, you’ve instantly got a load of new mates. Someone who can sort your wobbly patio tiles, someone who can do your plumbing, and someone who can balance your books. The concept was to marry up the community of a rugby club with talking about mental health/mental fitness. 

We’re on a (BONKERS) mission to place a mental health lead (a ‘LooseHead’) at every rugby club in the world. We’re currently working with around 800 rugby clubs worldwide by providing them with a toolkit that acts as a menu to: promote positive mental fitness, start difficult conversations, upskill people at the club in spotting signs, give access to a free textline service, create kinder cultures, and ultimately tackle the stigma. If you’re not involved already, come and join the movement. And best of all, it’s completely free!

1 in 4 people suffer with a mental health problem here in the UK and suicide is still the biggest killer of men under 50 in many developed countries. We are now certainly seeing the conversation around mental health being raised, but there’s still a long way to go. And we see that as part of our mission.

We’re so grateful to the team at Bournemouth 7s for recognising the importance of promoting mental health awareness. They have selected LooseHeadz as their chosen charity for the 2023 festival and for that we are thankful. We’re looking forward to being a part of the B7s family!

We have a stall at Bournemouth 7s and will have a presence throughout the weekend. We will also be bringing ambassadors Ben John (The Rugby Trainer), Ellie Boatman (GB7’s), and Rhona Lloyd (GB7’s) along with us so come and say hello and find out more about LooseHeadz, our work, and how you can get involved. 

Thanks for the support. Together, we can #TackleTheStigma'