Hot on the heels of winning a SFA regional award, our local CAMHS football project is celebrating being the best in Scotland after lifting the national SFA award for the best community football project. They scored a winner after competing against hundreds of teams from across the country and received their trophy at an award ceremony at Hampden, which was attended by past and present footballers and senior officials of the SFA.

NHS Forth Valley Occupational Therapist for CAMHS, Tracy Binnie, said: ‘ I didn’t realise how big an achievement it was until I attended the event. The awards demonstrated the power of engagement and mental wellbeing through the use of sport to help all ages.

“The CAMHS project is amazing and has helped so many young people to engage in activity that have otherwise either felt unable to or have been excluded from. The collaboration with The Falkirk Foundation has allowed partnership working which has made an impact both during the sessions and by providing opportunities for long term engagement in leisure activities through their mainstream programmes.”

Open to youngsters aged between 8 and 17, the project is a partnership between Falkirk Football Community Foundation and NHS Forth Valley. Players must be referred by a case manager and meet in Falkirk stadium every week where, after a warm-up session on the main pitch, they learn skills such as ball control, shooting, dribbling, passing, crossing and penalties. Small-sided games are also arranged and there is a debrief from the dugout.

When play is in progress, a therapist can discuss with spectators activities and strategies which can be used at home.

Photo (left to right) Dave Mackay, Football Development Officer, Falkirk Foundation. Tracy Binnie NHS Forth Valley Occupational Therapist, CAMHS and Derek Allison, CEO Falkirk Foundation