Jame’s Story

From raising awareness to hearing people disclose very personal mental health barriers, I would say mental health isn’t the easiest thing to talk about, especially for men. I would say that more people are speaking out about mental health themes such as impacts of injury and pressure/ anxiety that induces mental health triggers. You can tell people think they’re weak and vulnerable when they first open up about things like this. But, particularly in team sports such as rugby and hockey, I have seen that teams who speak out together, strengthen together. This leads to individuals no longer barricading in their mental health and sharing their experiences to everyone. Not only do people gain confidence of speaking out, but they also learn more about how amazing they are to go beyond a position of not being able to do something- to doing it! 

Overall, I would say mental health is something we can all support as a team, in or out of the changing rooms, or on or off the pitch, we all have a state of mental health that we can share, support and empower together.