Therapy in Iceland: a whole new ball game

Therapy in Iceland: a whole new ball game

FC Sækó coach Bergϸór Grétar Böðvarsson gathers his team before a warm-up in May 2019. Having himself experienced intellectual disabilities at a younger age, he shares his experience, acting as an intermediary between occupational therapists and the players.

(Sébastien Roux)
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It is a dream come true: to tread the lush green pitch of Iceland’s biggest stadium, Laugardalsvöllur. Flanked by his older teammates, Björn Breki Magnússon, the youngest in the team at just 20, is savouring every moment. His imposing build earned him a place as one of FC Sækó’s defenders in early 2018. His presence on the pitch may not be the result of a multi-million-euro transfer deal, but its therapeutic value is priceless.

“I’m following treatment to deal with psychotic episodes, but medication is not a cure-all. When I joined the team last year, I found a space where I could come out of my shell. Here, we have responsibilities, with two training sessions a week and games throughout the summer as part of the Gold League, an amateur championship,” he says, before joining the warm-up under the watchful gaze of Icelandic football legend Eiður Smári Guðjohnsen.

Training at Laugardalsvöllur is a momentous occasion for FC Sækó: it is usually only used by the professional players from Iceland’s national team, to host international matches. The Football Association of Iceland (Knattspyrnusamband Íslands, KSÍ) wanted to showcase this project jointly run by the psychiatric department of Iceland’s University Hospital and a rehabilitation centre offering sports and cultural activities for people with mental health problems. It is the small amateur club’s second reward, following the ‘Best Project’ accolade it received as part of the UEFA Grassroots Football Awards, in the autumn of 2018, for the club’s success in promoting an active lifestyle and social interaction among people suffering from mental health problems and helping to free them from isolation.

Eight years after its formation, FC Sækó, based in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik, now has around 30 players.

They are men and women, aged between 20 and 60, who suffer from one or more of the mental disorders listed by the World Health Organization (WHO): bipolar affective disorder, depression, schizophrenia and other psychoses, dementia, intellectual disabilities and developmental disorders, including autism. Like Björn, most of them found out about the project by word of mouth, within specialised structures: “Several times a week, I go to Laugarásinn, a centre linked to the University Hospital of Iceland, to take part in other community-based activities. I feel more serene in the presence of others. I hope to be able to find work soon, perhaps as a salesperson,” he says while putting away his football boots at the end of the training session.

“Show them they are not alone”

Iceland is often hailed as a great model of gender equality. With a population of less than 350,000 inhabitants, the care for vulnerable people is centred on human contact: “We don’t treat them as if they were ill. The important thing is to bring them together, to show them they are not alone and that they can play football, Iceland’s favourite game. They are free to come and see us at the hospital or on a football pitch if they’re more at ease there. We’re not there to impose any constraints regarding their habits, or a specific diet. We prefer a more step-by-step approach, to restore their self-confidence and boost their self-reliance,” says FC Sækó coach, Bergϸór Grétar Böðvarsson, who has been involved in the project from the start.

Aged 52, he himself experienced learning disabilities as a young man during his occupational training in building and woodwork. His experience has become his strength. He has been heading the Notandi spyr Notanda (literally “User asks User”) project at the Hlutverkasetur rehab centre since 2010, and is involved in various other structures such as the psychiatric department of the University Hospital of Iceland and the Icelandic Mental Health Alliance, representing users. His role is to act as an intermediary between a team of occupational therapists and people with mental health problems, to better identify everyone’s needs and expectations.

He is assisted in his task by the unfailing support of Rafn Haraldur Rafnsson, head of the psychiatric department of Iceland’s University Hospital: “Football is just one of the options Bergϸór provides. We also offer activities related to stress management, nature walks, swimming, badminton or acupuncture. Around 200 people are currently benefiting from our services. These healthy activities reduce the need for medication and improve people’s quality of life during their treatment.” In 2015, Rafn Haraldur Rafnsson and three other Icelandic researchers conducted a study on the effects of physical activity on people with schizophrenia. Their findings are conclusive: after 20 weeks, the patients, aged between 21 and 31 years of age, saw their quality of life improve, with reduced levels of anxiety and stress.

Stretching the legs and broadening the mind

Training on the artificial turf of Reykjavik is one thing, taking a bus journey to the other end of the country with your teammates is a whole new ballgame. Before the summer season kicked off, Bergϸór Grétar Böðvarsson organised a training camp in Akureyri, the country’s second city located in the far north of the island. “For three whole days, the players left their routine behind. We rented a hostel with shared rooms. Most of them are used to living on their own. This kind of experience is yet another step towards a more profound change.”

The trip is also a therapeutic exercise during which learning to live together takes precedence over scoring goals. Seated on a sofa in the lounge, 34-year-old Jóhann Ingi Kristinsson, the team’s goalkeeper, searches for his words before speaking. Although he stammers and finds it hard to make eye contact, talking about his team clearly means a great deal to him.

“I find it hard to interact with people. I spend a lot of time at home with my cat, but when I saw our national team taking part in Euro 2016 in France, I came to understand the passion for the game.

“Before I knew it, I had joined FC Sækó. In 2018, thanks to the team, I took a plane for the first time in my life. We flew to Norway to meet other teams. My role as a goalkeeper means a great deal to me. Being here enables me to have exchanges that I wouldn’t necessarily have otherwise.”

Bergϸór is within earshot and listens carefully to his words. They bring a smile to his face. He knows that bringing people together is not always easy. As the team’s coach, Bergϸór nonetheless manages to meet everyone’s needs, following the advice of the doctors and with the help of occupational therapists and other volunteers.

One project inspires another

In Akureyri, the highlight of the summer training camp is the friendly against FF Múrbrjótar, a club they are becoming well acquainted with, and for good reason: inspired by FC Sækó’s example, the team’s coach, Haukur Snær Baldursson, replicated the project, 388 kilometres north of Reykjavik. “When I saw how FC Sækó had travelled to Scotland, England and Norway, I wanted to do the same here, with one goal in mind: bringing people together who are usually isolated and helping them reintegrate into society,” he says as he watches the two teams train.

Bergϸór acknowledges that he doesn’t have precise figures regarding the therapeutic outcomes of the project. “We are currently consulting with the doctors who are following the players, to get more information on the effects of the time spent playing football.

“The most important thing, for us, is the progress we see before our very eyes, week after week.

“Jóhann and other players on the team took part, for instance, in the Reykjavik Marathon on 24 August. Apart from boosting their endurance, their participation also allowed us to raise 134,500 Icelandic kroners (around €965) towards FC Sækó’s future projects.” Jóhann, the goalkeeper, has also just found a job in a school supplies workshop that welcomes and reintegrates people with a range of disabilities.

Bergϸór’s dream of seeing this type of initiative spread to the rest of Europe is slowly taking shape. “My ambition is to invite the various teams that have welcomed us since 2014 to come to Reykjavik, to set up an FC Sækó tournament. Next year, we’re going to Spain. In addition to visiting Real Madrid’s stadium, I would like to meet people in the same situation as us, to encourage them to undertake this type of project outside Iceland.”

This article has been translated from French.