Anonymous Story

It all started when…

1.  What personal experiences with mental health do you have? Either with yourself, athletes in your area or friends.

Personally no issues with mental health but I have known people where their whole life has been seriously impacted following a period on mental health illness

2. How do you feel sport/fitness affects mental health?

It is a double edged sword and totally depends on the individual and their circumstances.  Some people use sport/activity as a "time out" from the health issues and report very positive results.  Others find the whole idea of "doing sport" utterly terrifying during the period of illness and this make the condition worse if forced into participation.

 3. What advice do you have for people in sport/fitness who struggle with mental health issues?

The best advice is to seek professional help, there is a stigma attached to mental health but it's no different from treating  a broken leg.  You would not deal with that in isolation and would seek a medical professional to treat the condition, the same goes for mental health issues.  

4.  What advice do you wish you had been given before going through (or observing) the experiences you have?

Better training, the stigma attached means people ignore it and hope it will just “go away” If staff were better prepared this may help an individual sufferer.