The Health Lottery is celebrating a decade of making a real difference to people’s lives, thanks to your help. Loneliness and mental health issues have been tough to overcome, especially over the past 18 months, but with money raised through The Health Lottery, People’s Health Trust has been able to fund grass roots projects and charities to help change lives. Whenever you play The Health Lottery you could win a cash prize, and you’re also helping good causes in your local community. There have been more than 16 million winners so far, scooping £158million in prizes. And you could be next. You’ve already raised £121million for charity, which has helped 617,000 people with issues such as dementia, loneliness and learning difficulties to live a healthier life. Here are 10 ways in which money you’ve helped raise through The Health Lottery has supported people in need… 1. Good company Providing a lifeline to parents who felt isolated – via friendship groups, practical advice …
Mental health
Kelly Smith: There is a ‘lost generation’ of woman footballers due to lack of access
England’s record goalscorer talks girls’ football and her own mental health battle. The FA and Barclays have launched the Let Girls Play campaign. Is it a vital part of trying to keep girls in football? It is because I’m sure so many girls have been lost to the game but this is a welcome opportunity for them to play with boys. At that age, it should be about having fun and building self-esteem. You can make friends by playing football and head down other avenues if you are not going to be a player — coach, journalist, pundit. How have times changed in women’s football? We got the rough end of everything and (former England boss) Hope Powell had to fight to get training pitches for us. The vision of this scheme is about equal access to football in schools for girls by 2024. I was lucky because the boys accepted me when I was a kid because I was good but many will not have stuck with it. There is a lost generation. Powell is still in football and doing a great job …
‘Tyson Fury’s Gypsy pride gives us Travellers respite from the daily discrimination’
“They’re all criminals!” “They’re vermin and leave mess everywhere they go!” “It is a lifestyle choice, not an ethnic minority.” “They should all be sterilised.” “How can you be racist to Gypsies and Travellers, they’re not even human.” This is what us Gypsies, Roma and Traveller (GRT) people usually have to put up with when it comes to 95 percent of articles or TV shows about us. But thanks to Tyson Fury, people are talking more about GRT people in a positive way, allowing space for a discussion to get to know us and respect our history within the world. While it may be short-lived, it has been refreshing. Tyson Fury is proud to talk about his ethnicity - and GRT people are just as proud he's one of us Refreshing that a Gypsy man, proudly talking about his ethnicity and who is unabashed, has been received positively in the media and by the world. We knew back when he started that he was going to go far, and he had a big following of us. …
Day in the life of a Samaritan – emotions, anxiety and isolation, call by call
Ever wondered how you would cope with someone in crisis? What would you say to an upset, distressed caller on the phone? The Mirror’s HeadStrong: Better Mental Health For All Campaign has been focusing all week on the different generations who have seen their mental health affected by the pandemic. From children and parents to elderly, shielders, men and NHS frontline workers, everyone’s been susceptible to the current mental health crisis after 20 months of Covid-19 and lockdowns. But as anxiety, depression and OCD rates all escalate, Samaritans are working round the clock to be that friendly ear we all might need in times of stress and when you need a space to talk. Have you struggled with your mental health in lockdown? Email [email protected] to tell your story Star volunteer Azhar ( Image: CHRIS O'DONOVAN) And like every support group across the country, it was vital that work continued during the pandemic. But what’s it like for …
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Teenage girl is still too terrified to leave the house after shielding ends
Nineteen months after the first lockdown began, Vanessa Ezeh is still fearful of stepping into her own garden. She is fearful of going for walks. Sometimes, she refuses to allow her siblings to enter her room or touch her things. Once a sunny personality, she is now withdrawn and stays in her bedroom a lot. These are, for the 17-year-old who has needed to shield throughout the pandemic because of serious physical health conditions, the lasting effects of constant anxiety about Covid-19, plus isolation, on her mental health. ‘“She was always so outgoing, a whole ball of joy,” explains her mum Bukie Adebola-Ezeh, 44, emotion catching in her voice. She talks fast, in a whir of worry, trying to make sense of it all. “But she still won’t go for a walk, we have a back garden but she is even frightened of going in there. “She is not talking to anyone outside the family, and she sits in her room and plays on her own. She has withdrawn. Have you struggled with your mental health …
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Boy, 17, sent heartbreaking tweets hours before he died on railway line
A family have paid tribute to their teenage son who left tragic tweets before he died on a railway line. Officers were called just before 2pm on Friday 3 September following reports that someone had died on the tracks near Biggleswade railway station. Leo Toze, 17, was tragically pronounced dead at the scene, the Daily Record reports. A series of tweets that Leo shared before his death sadly show that he had thoughts of taking his own life, and his mother had also tweeted a couple of days before his death that "Someone I love has been suicidal." His family have shared that he had suffered from depression, but his mum has said that she does not want her son to be remembered by his final posts on social media. Leo’s family said: “Leo was a beloved son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin and friend. He was also a dedicated and outstanding student with a bright future ahead of him. “Sadly, he struggled with a deepening depressive illness, and, despite the love and support of …
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Student, 21, took her own life after contracting Covid and feeling ‘locked up’
A “brilliant” student took her own life after contracting coronavirus and feeling “locked up”, her heartbroken father says. Sinead Bowles' devastated parents Andy and Anita Bowles say she had shown no signs of feeling depressed or having mental health issues. The 21-year-old, who was a team leader at Alton Towers, had been furloughed during the pandemic and just “put her head down” to get on with her university studies, StokeonTrentLive reports. Then, days before her death, she had gone out with friends and contracted Covid. Her father, Andy, said: “I think her feelings came on quickly. She just felt she’d got Covid and was locked up. She had just completed the second year of her degree course at Staffordshire University “Like a lot of parents who are in this position, the common denominator is you never expect your child to take that course of action.” Sinead had just completed the second year of her degree course at Staffordshire University and …
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Mongols president Jim Thacker has been held for eight months in prison segregation
He’s the president of one of the most notorious outlaw motorcycle gangs and is deemed a security risk by prison bosses, but the family of Jim Thacker say he still has rights and keeping him in solitary confinement is inhumane. National Correspondent Tony Wall reports as part of his investigation into segregation in prisons. Jim Thacker wakes in the mornings to the sound of a mass killer talking to himself. Thacker, president of the Mongols Motorcycle Club, is being held in a high-security segregation unit at Auckland Prison in a cell next to the terrorist who slaughtered 51 people in the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks. “When he first got into that unit next to [the terrorist] he reckons he was bragging about all the people he’d killed. It was f...ing with him,” a relative says. Despite his fearsome reputation, Thacker, who was deported from Australia in 2018 on character grounds, has never served jail time before and has yet to be convicted of the crimes he’s accused of. …
Scotland’s assisted dying Bill could see requests approved on Zoom
Terminally ill people in rural Scotland could have applications to end their lives approved over Zoom under proposals to legalise assisted suicide . Under a Private Members’ Bill, agreement from two doctors would be needed for a person with an incurable illness to end their own life by taking a fatal cocktail of drugs that would be provided on the NHS. A consultation published ahead of the proposed law’s introduction to Holyrood raises the prospect of a death being signed off via video link, if the patient is unable to travel or cannot find two doctors to visit them. Liam McArthur, the Liberal Democrat MSP behind the plan, admitted that a lack of access to doctors could make an assisted death harder to access for people in remote areas, particularly if a local GPs boycotted the process on conscientious grounds. His document goes on to note that in some other countries where assisted dying is legal, approval by video link is allowed in “exceptional circumstances”. …
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‘All goods must be able to move without restriction’ – Readers on the week’s biggest talking points
This week, Brussels negotiators promised to reform the Northern Ireland Protocol with hopes that it could end months of post-Brexit bickering between the bloc and the British Government. Readers took this opportunity to share why they feel the protocol is unnecessary. Elsewhere, the first major report into the Government’s pandemic response concluded that Britain did not lock down sooner due to a ministerial failure to challenge poor scientific advice . In response, our readers offered up how they believe the pandemic should have initially been dealt with.Read on to find out what our readers had to say about these stories and the week’s biggest talking points. Get involved in future round-ups by joining the Telegraph Community Facebook group. Revealed: EU's four-pronged plan to reform Northern Ireland Protocol and end months of Brexit bickering On Wednesday, negotiators from Brussels travelled to London, with promises to bend and break their …