Football will be used as a rehabilitative tool in a new Football Foundation initiative launched at Arsenal Football Club by Sports Minister, Gerry Sutcliffe.

Coping Through Football, a scheme designed and managed by the London Playing Fields Foundation, will offer young males the chance to play football, as well as take part in football-related activities such as discussions, attending coaching and refereeing courses, volunteering and watching matches.

It is hoped that it will help bring patients from secondary care to the relative normality of primary care and will demonstrate football’s ability to bring people together and raise self esteem.

Suicide caused by depression is currently the biggest killer of young men aged between 18 and 25.

The result is a team effort between The Football Foundation, the North East London Mental Health Trust, Waltham Forest Primary Care Trust and Leyton Orient’s Community Coaches.

Healthcare specialists will work alongside the football coaches so that aspects of existing care programmes can be delivered simultaneously.

Chief executive of the Football Foundation, Paul Thorogood, says: “It is the latest example of how the Football Foundation is harnessing our national game as an important vehicle that can help support individuals and deliver benefits to society in a wide range of areas.”