Ateam of locals are taking action to raise mental health awareness by organising charity football match ‘switch the headspace’.

The twilight match will take place at East Gambier Football Club on February 17 next year and will raise funds for headspace Mount Gambier.

The dedicated committee, which includes Adam Todd, Adam Richards, Jesse Plunkett, Celeste Raymond, Shane Raymond, Matt Roscow, Luke Thomson and Aaron Davis, have been working hard to organise the event.

Richards said the idea for the match emerged after Thomson featured on ‘The Richo & Toddy Poddy’ podcast, which he hosted with Todd.

“We had Luke on our podcast and there were a couple of suicides prior to that,” Richards said.

“We talked about a football match, me and Toddy talked about it a little bit and had the idea that we could actually do a game of football and we would donate it to charity for mental health.

“We mentioned it to Jesse, got him on board and then messaged Luke and Roscow and then Celeste as well and Tassie (Shane Raymond).

“We got a few people together and thought it would be a good idea to see where we can take it.”

Raymond said when the boys approached her to help organise the event she immediately jumped on board.

“I am really an advocate for being proactive in mental health support seeking, I believe in being proactive around changing stigma and people learning how to seek support for their mental health, especially young men,” she said.

“I thought this was a huge way that we could reach out to a large amount of community with a fun night with an underlying message to look after your mental health, look after your mates, seek support when you need it.

“Also to have a bit of fun after everybody, really, in our community has been touched by mental health especially over the last two years and I just thought it was a really positive, proactive concept which supported mental health.”

Plunkett said the event had received lots of interest since the ‘switch the headspace’ Facebook page was created and the community had been keen to jump on board and support the event.

“Everyone I have spoken to, some of the older community as well, they have been pretty keen to get on board through sponsorship,” Roscow said.

“Most of the people who I have spoken to who have businesses and things like that have said how good of an idea it was, so people are willing to help out wherever they can.

“So it has generated traction right across from a younger demographic right through to an older one.”

The event name, ‘switch the headspace,’ is a fusion of headspace and Switch The Play, a grassroots mental health and wellbeing initiative driven by Raymond.

“To get Celeste behind us is what we needed and to get someone who is in that field, that understands mental health and that sort of stuff,” Thomson said.

“I think it is a good opportunity all around for everyone involved but obviously it is good for us boys to have someone like Celeste to bounce off.

“She is a massive part of what we are trying to achieve and she is the one with the most knowledge about it all.”

Roscow said that knowledge was crucial, to ensure the wrong ideas were not promoted.

“To have somebody like Celeste who can point us in the right direction where we can improve and we can learn, because let’s be honest, we are all learning,” Roscow said.

“So if we can lean on someone like her and ask questions and things like that, she has got the experience in this field, I think that is crucial.

“She is so passionate about it too and everyone here is passionate, so that is important.”

Todd said the main purpose of hosting the event was to spread mental health awareness.

“I think it is awareness first and a part of that is money does come in, which will help in the long run, but definitely awareness for the Mount at the moment,” Plunkett said.

“Considering where we are at, at the moment, with the increasing rate of suicide and mental health needs to be talked about a bit more I think is probably the reason behind it,” Richards said.

“You have just got to look over the last couple of months, I have been to funerals of young people I have coached playing footy and have known and stood at every one of them and went, ‘we have got to do something’,” Roscow said.

“Hopefully we will look back and we have made a difference, even if it is just one person that goes and seeks support for their mental health or learns more about mental health or opens up conversations more, it has been worth it,” Raymond said.

“We just want our community to feel better and hopefully this will help our community be well and stay well.”

Roscow believes headspace is a great organisation to donate to because the age demographic for headspace ranged from 14 to 21 years.

“So there is prevention at a young age to try and involve courses and things to try and help people through at a young age, but it also does not leave the 18, 19 and 21 out,” he said.

“I think it is such an important thing to get through and raise the awareness to younger people because then they understand when they face more difficult times when they get older.”

“Another good thing with the headspace down here that we were quite lucky with is because we wanted to keep it pretty local, which can be a hard thing to do with some bigger companies but we can donate the money to our local headspace,” Plunkett said.

“It stays in our community which is nice.”

“Nick McInerney (at headspace) has been really good to help us out,” Raymond said.

The committee said the game would be all-inclusive for people of all ages and abilities.

“It is a whole community event, it is more than just a little thing we want to try and do, it’s to get everyone from Mount Gambier and the surrounding regions involved and try and really make something of it,” Roscow said.

“What the event is going to be about is not how well you play, it is just playing, being involved, getting around each other, giving each other a pat on the back.

“I think for young people especially to let them know there are people out there they can talk to and also for the older demographic as well.”

The evening will also feature live music and an auction after the game and Davis has been busy organising the venue logistics, player guernseys, food, bar facilities and more.

Any businesses or individuals who would like to sponsor or donate to the event can contact Aaron Davis on 0400 236 770.

Visit facebook.com/matchformentalhealth2023 for event updates and announcements.