Mental Healthcare for Children and Community using Football

FM is rooted in the heart of the neighborhoods with the aim of working on mental healthcare through football. The project works in the Sergio Toral and Trinidad de Dios neighborhoods of the city of Guayaquil. These neighborhoods have strongly been affected by Covid-19 especially due to its history of social marginalization and violation of basic rights. Further, mental health of the children and youth has been impacted due to prolonged confinement to limited outdoor spaces and lack of sports and related socialization. A team of Futbol Mas’ professionals conducts socio-sports workshops through a work network adhering to the SDGs. This proposal incorporates instances of integration with specially-abled people belonging to the Special Olympics Ecuador, with the aim of contributing toward inclusion in society. Children and youth from 6 to 18 years old will participate. The work will also include their families to promote responsibility, participation, and self-management. Fútbol Más’s mission is to promote the well-being of children and youth by strengthening their resilience, creating meaningful bonds and community cohesion through games and sports. Our are community, happiness and inspiration. The design and implementation methodology is based on the promotion of 5 fundamental values: respect, joy, teamwork, responsibility and creativity. These values are exercised through the Green Card methodology, a tool for bonding, positive reinforcement and clear limits, which promotes learning by playing and guarantees a formative approach to soccer. It is a pedagogical tool that rewards and promotes prosocial behaviors of children, young people and adults on and off the field. Through its social action for sustainable development, the foundation seeks to build capacities in people and/or territories. It contributes to the development of human capital, empowered communities, and protected spaces for children in public spaces, schools, and emergency contexts. A sustainable territory over time requires capacity building through a model of methodological transfer and empowerment of neighborhood leaders. Taking a soccer match as a metaphor, the community participates in a 3 time transfer process; time 1: trust phase, time 2: transfer, time 3: autonomy.