A woman's life was transformed after she was "dragged" from her home by her mum.
Tashi Thornley, from Formby, was reluctant to try football but after her mum forced her to give Formby Community Football Club a go she now admits it has transformed her life.
According to the Football Association, there are millions of people involved in grassroots football who struggle with mental health problems.
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Tashi is one of them. She was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder in 2014 but had suffered from poor mental health since she was a child.
She said: “At first I couldn't bring myself to go. I was depressed, I didn't want to leave the house, I had no social life, I had no friends around me because I'd stopped contacting people.
"Eventually, my mum managed to drag me to one of the sessions and I just loved it straight away. It gave me a focus, it's not even just the actual playing - obviously, exercise increases endorphins - but it has become like a family I've got now.”
The 32-year-old said her mental health worries were "brushed off" as teenage angst. She said: “I was self-harming in school and they just kind of brushed it off. I didn't grow out of it and 20 years later, it still affects my health.”
Tashi gave up football when she was 14 and now reflects on how long she has been out of the game before going back to the beautiful game.
Tashi said: “I was a bit gutted I put it off for so long, to be honest. It has literally, completely transformed my life. I moved on from the FCFC Tigers, I just started loving it, I wanted to do more and more and more so I trained for the 11-a-side because there's a game every Sunday.”
Since joining Formby Community Football Club Tashi has now been appointed to the committee and has input into the future running of the club.
She said: “I love everything the club stands for within the community, raising money, raising awareness. We've got age three up to 86. I've seen how the teams I've been in have developed, it's great to be able to give feedback and have a say and actually make a difference.”
Talking about how football has helped her mental health improve, Tashi said: “I wasn't going out or talking about how I felt, I was locking myself away, but the more I started playing for the Tigers the more comfortable I felt not actually hiding how I feel because everyone is really, really supportive.”
“But it's also helped me to go out to other social things, I joined a mental health programme called Liverpool Football Therapy. Taking that first step has given me confidence in how I was playing but also to go out and meet new people. I play football as much as I can now to be honest.”
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