Atiga tackling mental health after helping Sutherland

BY ACCEPTING he needed help with his mental health, Scotland star Rory Sutherland turned his career around and sparked a major SRU initiative to help others suffering from depression.

The prop forward had just won his first Scotland cap against Ireland in March 2016 when he suffered a career-threatening hip injury. After undergoing bilateral abductor reconstruction, it was touch and go whether the father of two young children would even walk properly again, let alone play rugby.

He was stuck in the house for three months, had to use a wheelchair and was left full of self-doubt and anxiety.

It was during one of his first visits out of the house with his partner four months after his operation that, by chance, he met the SRU’s Ben Atiga, who looked after the well-being of players arriving in Scotland from abroad.

After talking to Sutherland about his problems, Atiga realised it was an important issue and, with the blessing of the governing body, helped set up a specific programme to assist rugby players with their mental health.

‘It was a chance encounter with Rory that started it all,’ said Atiga. ‘I ran into him in a car park and you could just see it on his face that he wasn’t his chirpy self. I knew he’d been out of the game for a few months, that the surgery didn’t work, and you could get a gauge of how he was feeling.

‘He was the first case study for me. He was the one who ignited this whole push to have a programme within the SRU to help players’ mental health.

‘A Fijian player, Isireli Temo, had committed suicide the year before, so it was starting to come out how serious an area mental health is.

‘I worked with Rory for a couple of months. It was about making sure we were touching base with him on a regular basis — and that he knew there was someone outside of the player group where he could just let loose and get everything out in the open.

‘From there, he led the rest of the way, through his own resilience that he’d built by coming out of that dark place, and has since gone from strength to strength as a player. There are cases that aren’t as serious as it got for Rory but there are guys who do struggle.’ Atiga (below), talking as Mental Health Awareness Week draws to a close, struggled with depression during his playing career. ‘I was not medically diagnosed,’ he said. ‘Only in hindsight is it clear I walked away from the game never really wanting to return and not knowing why. ‘When I came to this role, part of it was to go through a three-day mental health workshop provided for all support staff here at Scottish Rugby. ‘It was not until I really started learning about mental health and the symptoms and signs of it that it all came flooding back to me.

‘It got me emotional because I realised then, jeez, that was me. I was that person and didn’t know it. Everything from then on started to make sense and it became easier for me to speak to players about mental health.’

Atiga said it was great to see high-profile Scottish players such as Fraser Brown and Graeme Morrison going public with their own mental-health problems.

‘Fraser Brown is a huge advocate for mental health and players are well aware of the work he does to promote it,’ said Atiga.

‘What is great about people like Fraser and Graeme sharing their stories is that it shows it is something that can happen to anyone. Nobody is immune to this.

‘The stigma over talking about mental health is still there a bit and it takes time to create a cultural shift, but we are starting to see players have a better understanding and awareness around it now.

‘It has helped to have others speak out about it — guys who they look up to and aspire to be like — and that’s the importance of this mental-health programme.’