Basketball captain appointed patron

OLYMPIC basketball captain Drew Sullivan has been appointed the first Patron of the Leicestershire Action for Mental Health Project (LAMP).

LAMP is an independent voluntary organisation and offers support to those across Leicestershire and Rutland living with mental health issues and their carers.

The Leicester Riders player was drawn to the role after suffering from depression himself, and overcoming it with help from his family and friends. He now wants to help others who don’t have that strong network of people around him.

He said: “When you’ve never been in that situation before it’s really frustrating. I didn’t know what was happening. Depression was something I’d never considered.

“Not everybody has that close knit unit, people suffer in silence, I did for a while.

“That’s one of the reasons I wanted to be involved, to let peo- ple know they don’t have to suffer alone

“I want to give a voice to people and carry on the conversation around mental health, that’s where my focus as a patron will be.”

Drew’s appointment as a patron to the service is part of a new phase in their development to increase their profile.

Shaun Johnson, LAMP chair, said: “We’re very well known within the mental health sector but beyond that, we’re not as well-known as we should be.

“I think Drew’s appointment is a way of raising the profile of mental health issues locally. I also think it helps to challenge the stigma around mental health and the brilliant work LAMP is doing to combat that.

“I think sometime we’ve just gotten on and done work rather than making a big deal of it. I think it’s time that people were aware of the work we’re doing.”

For more information on LAMP visit www.lampdirect.org.uk