Using the power of football to support families at Tynecastle Park
Organisations: Big Hearts Community Trust - charity partner of Heart of Midlothian FC
Football plays a unique role in people’s lives. Across the UK, football clubs and their associated trusts are using their position as community anchor organisations to engage with communities in ways other local services cannot.
“Football clubs are local institutions, anchors in their communities, which leave generational imprints on people across Scotland. We believe in using the power of football for good; to get to and inspire change in the heart of communities in a way that others can’t.” Scottish Premier Football League Trust, Strategy 2022-25
Big Hearts Community Trust (Big Hearts), the official charity of Hearts of Midlothian FC, is building on its position as a community anchor through Neuro Stars, a programme supporting neurodiverse young people and their families to navigate social, emotional, and practical challenges in a supportive and inclusive environment where they can connect, learn, and thrive.
What is Neuro Stars?
Every Friday, Big Hearts hosts free sessions at Tynecastle Park stadium for young people aged 5-16 with neurodivergent diagnoses or those awaiting diagnosis, along with their families.
Neuro Stars provides mutual support for young people with complex needs and their parents and carers. Through activities like messy play, sports, and outdoor adventures, young people are supported to develop skills, build self-esteem, and form friendships in ways they wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to. Parents and carers also benefit from a dedicated peer support group, which fosters connection, resilience, and supports them to feel empowered in their caring roles. Each session ends with healthy food, providing opportunities for children to explore new foods with their peers and easing financial pressures for families.
What challenges did Neuro Stars set out to address?
Neuro Stars was developed in response to feedback from families and referral partners highlighting increasing isolation and pressures among neurodiverse children and families.
Long waiting lists and high thresholds for specialist services, alongside mainstream clubs unable to meet specific support needs, left families with few places to turn. The cost-of-living crisis further limited access to social and recreational activities, leaving many parents with limited support and nowhere else to turn for help.
Big Hearts aimed to bridge this gap, leveraging the Football Club’s unique reach to engage and support local families at Tynecastle Park.
How are Big Hearts leveraging their role as an anchor organisation?
As a community-based anchor organisation, Big Hearts recognised its ability to address these challenges through its strong community ties, flexible facilities, and experienced staff.
Neuro Stars takes place in Tynecastle Park’s fully accessible community space, ‘The Shed,’ designed to be welcoming, safe, and engaging. The central location is easily accessible by public transport and well connected to local schools, reducing practical barriers to participation. By opening the doors to the stadium and sharing their space and resources, Big Hearts are able to use the power of football to support communities in ways that other services may struggle - offering a unique and engaging environment, which helps to foster trust, belonging, and connection in the community.
“We both love coming to the stadium and feel relaxed here. It feels good to be a different type of venue not like the usual places where you go for help’ Parent / Carer Feedback
What impact is emerging?
Since piloting 12 months ago, Neuro Stars has nearly doubled its reach, with 15-20 families attending weekly. Reflecting the need and popularity of the service, the programme continues to grow through referrals and word of mouth.
Children are gaining confidence, forming friendships, and developing key social and life skills. Meanwhile, parents and carers benefit from 90 minutes of respite each week and building peer networks that help combat isolation. Many families report feeling more capable of coping and less alone.
“I don’t know where we would be without Neuro Stars, this group has stopped us becoming totally isolated, helped us find our community, helped to take the load off, and built our confidence to trust in other people.” Parent / Carer feedback
What specific steps have underpinned the success of Neuro Stars?
A number of factors have helped make Neuro Stars a success, including:
Co-designing with families and children: Neuro Stars was co-designed with families to ensure activities are tailored to their specific needs. Taking a ‘total communication approach’, has ensured children have a voice in making decisions about the activities that are offered and how sessions run.
Working in collaboration with local organisations: Big Hearts works with schools, social services, and the Council’s Lifelong Learning Parent Carer team to reach those most in need.
Gathering feedback and aligning outcomes: Big Hearts gathers insights through surveys, interviews, observational diaries, and focus groups. When gathering feedback from young people, they use engaging activities, group work, and creative data elicitation techniques to address the key programme outcomes based on the Scottish Government’s getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) framework and indicators.
What’s next for Neuro Stars?
Big Hearts are committed to evolving the Neuro Stars programme. They aim to share learning with other organisations to strengthen neurodiversity support, raise awareness of the programme’s impact to build partnerships and secure sustainable funding, and continue involving families in co-design to ensure the programme adapts to their evolving needs.
Find out more about Neuro Stars and the work Big Hearts is doing as a community anchor organisation by getting in contact with amanda.farquhar@bighearts.org.uk