Oct 6, 2026 · 33 min · 13 segments
Onside is a mental health initiative founded by Adam Franklin and Connor Botterill. They partner with football clubs across the English Football League and National League to provide accessible…
yeah i mean so onside is a mental health and well-being service um implemented by the football club and other football clubs up and down the efl and national league where each club gets an email inbox dedicated to their team and supporter base where they email in with with any issues uh mental health well-being related whether that's um low-level work-based stress to high-level addiction issues, personal trainers, financial well-being,
that you might be struggling with in day-to-day life, pop an email into the inbox and we'll get back to you with human support essentially, which is something very rare in this space at the moment, particularly that first sort of triage diagnosis stage, particularly with online services tends to be done now by AI bots and, and, and all that sort of thing.
And it's something that Adam and I have been really sort of trying to fight against in, in, in, in that space because as great as these facilities are for certain things i don't think mental health can be solved by ai so yeah it's human-led support which is which is the sort of key thing for us and um yeah our slas i think are fantastic in the space in the sense that we can have people in front of the relevant level of support after that triage service within seven days so um the nhs and charity wait times as i mean they're doing fantastic work obviously it goes without saying but I mean, we've had someone come through the inbox today with a certain issue.
They've been waiting 19 months on the NHS to get in front of somebody and we've been able to source that level of support within a seven-day period.
It is as simple as messaging into that inbox that's been set up by the club and you'll get that level of support from there.
Yeah, you're right there.
I mean, I've got my own experience with mental health.
I have been waiting and waiting and waiting.
And then you can also
For example, I go to Andy's Man Club fairly regularly as well, which is
a fantastic place.
support for me and for a lot of the guys that come along as well.
But the thing that really caught my interest, if you like, is obviously the fact that you've tied in with 17, 18 football clubs across the EFL now.
I know that there were other clubs that sort of were partnered with before the Cobblers.
I'd become aware of you guys before this partnership was announced back in July with Northampton.
The thing that's really interesting for me is that, you know, football clubs are communities.
They are families.
They are, you know, not just about that 90 minutes on the football pitch.
It's about everything.
And we know that, especially here at the podcast, because not only are me and the guys that make the show, we've become great friends and friends.
yeah i mean so onside is a mental health and well-being service um implemented by the football club and other football clubs up and down the efl and national league where each club gets an email inbox dedicated to their team and supporter base where they email in with with any issues uh mental health well-being related whether that's um low-level work-based stress to high-level addiction issues, personal trainers, financial well-being,
that you might be struggling with in day-to-day life, pop an email into the inbox and we'll get back to you with human support essentially, which is something very rare in this space at the moment, particularly that first sort of triage diagnosis stage, particularly with online services tends to be done now by AI bots and, and, and all that sort of thing.
And it's something that Adam and I have been really sort of trying to fight against in, in, in, in that space because as great as these facilities are for certain things i don't think mental health can be solved by ai so yeah it's human-led support which is which is the sort of key thing for us and um yeah our slas i think are fantastic in the space in the sense that we can have people in front of the relevant level of support after that triage service within seven days so um the nhs and charity wait times as i mean they're doing fantastic work obviously it goes without saying but I mean, we've had someone come through the inbox today with a certain issue.
They've been waiting 19 months on the NHS to get in front of somebody and we've been able to source that level of support within a seven-day period.
It is as simple as messaging into that inbox that's been set up by the club and you'll get that level of support from there.
Yeah, you're right there.
I mean, I've got my own experience with mental health.
I have been waiting and waiting and waiting.
And then you can also
For example, I go to Andy's Man Club fairly regularly as well, which is
a fantastic place.
support for me and for a lot of the guys that come along as well.
But the thing that really caught my interest, if you like, is obviously the fact that you've tied in with 17, 18 football clubs across the EFL now.
I know that there were other clubs that sort of were partnered with before the Cobblers.
I'd become aware of you guys before this partnership was announced back in July with Northampton.
The thing that's really interesting for me is that, you know, football clubs are communities.
They are families.
They are, you know, not just about that 90 minutes on the football pitch.
It's about everything.
And we know that, especially here at the podcast, because not only are me and the guys that make the show, we've become great friends and friends.
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