Sports stars in crisis must not be left to suffer

WHEN I first spoke about my brush with depression and anxiety I was worried what the reaction would be. I wasn’t the first to speak out about my experience and the need for support, nor will I be the last.

Despite people thinking MPs live in another world, we still experience the effects of poor mental health, just like one in every four of us — in our families, schools, workplaces and communities.

Mental health shows no prejudice. Your profession is no barrier to the darkness that invades your mind and soul.

My own experience was incidental and mercifully short. I threw myself into work, I kept myself busy and, along with medication, sport was a crucial part of my recovery. Managing a girls’ football team, running along the streets or punching the hell out of a boxing bag freed my brain from m other intrusions and d provided the space I needed to work through the issues.

I am not alone in recognising that the link between sport and good mental health is strong. Mental health charities encourage participationti in sport for the positive impact it has on an individual’s mental well-being. In my role as minister, I made sure mental health was an explicit measurable outcome in the Government’s sport strategy, ensuring that funding will be available for organisations running projects that are proven to deliver on this front.

But what if sport is your profession? What if sport, a widely proven recovery or coping method, is the reason why your mind has just exploded? What do you do and who do you turn to?

I am confident that the Government has set out what it wants to see from the sports sector on mental health at a grassroots level, so now my focus has turned to what more can be done to support elite athletes struggling with mental health issues.

Lots of people have talked about their struggles, including boxing legend Frank Bruno and England cricketers Jonathan Trott and Marcus Trescothick.

Trott has spoken of the ‘pressure cooker’ environment of playing sport at the highest level and of times in his career where he prayed for rain so that he didn’t have to go out to bat and face his demons.

Freddie Flintoff (below) has talked about taking antidepressants, double Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes self-harmed because of the battle inside her head, while QPR defender Steven Caulker has revealed he considered taking his own life.

When I asked Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson to do an independent report on the issue, she found that there was a lot of great work already happening. More than 300 organisations — from national governing bodies to player associations — have signed up to the Sport and Recreation Alliance’s ‘Mental Health Charter’ and there are notable support schemes across various sports.

But you only have to hear the stories from professional sportsmen and women to know that thereth is more that can and must be done. CompaniesCo and organisationso in other sectors have support, procedures and processes to help employees who may suffer with mentalm health issuesis and it is crucialcru that sport — governing bodies, professional teams and clubs — also ensures that it does too.

Next month I am going to look into the issue in even more detail by hosting two meetings on the subject where I will hear first-hand the views of athletes, player associations and mental health organisations. I want to explore what else the sport sector, with the support of Government, can do to help make a real difference.

It is important that people continue to speak out about their own experience as it helps reduce the stigma of mental health conditions.

But I want to get to a point where the right structures are in place so that we no longer read about a sports star being at a crisis point.

The more we talk to each other about mental health, and the more Government does to tackle mental ill-health, the more we encourage people to ask for help earlier. Because whatever you do professionally, whether you are a politician or sports star, the darkness can seek you out, but with the right support in place you can beat it.