Sky Sports activities have produced a documentary, Tackling the Stigma, in assist of Psychological Well being Consciousness Week 2023.
The three-part, hour-long deep dive, narrated by Martin Tyler, investigates psychological well being points in soccer, exploring what golf equipment and gamers are doing to alter the narrative round males’s psychological well being.
In a sequence of interviews carried out by Patrick Davidson, the primary of their variety by high footballers, the documentary highlights simply how a lot the business has modified over the previous decade.
By speaking in depth with present Premier League gamers Harry Kane, Ben Chilwell and Jordan Pickford, we learn how they handle their wellbeing. We additionally hear from former gamers Lee Hendrie and Kieron Dyer about how they suffered throughout their careers, with little remedy or assist obtainable.
Former Aston Villa midfielder Hendrie, who claims his psychological well being points started in his youth when his dad and mom separated, tried suicide in August 2010 and July the next yr after have suffered from melancholy.
His psychological well being points got here to a head after a few of his properties, together with the home he had purchased for his mom, have been repossessed and his profession was coming to an finish, as he was within the midst of a divorce. .
“It means so much to me,” Hendrie stated sky sports activities. “I felt every little thing begin to disintegrate and fall on me.
Lee Hendrie did not get the assistance he wanted to know he suffered from psychological well being points as a participant
“Mother was at all times there. My story as a baby was of desirous to be a footballer after which shopping for mum and pop a home and a automotive – to have good issues.
“For mum to take that off. I bear in mind seeing her face after I first purchased her the home, she was simply joyful and I hadn’t seen her this joyful in years. To take that off and see her as she was, it was heartbreaking.
“It is the toughest place I’ve ever been. It is laborious to explain ideas and the one method I felt I might get out of it was if I am not within the equation , everybody will recover from me not being right here.
“I did not assume I would depart the children and my spouse, or go away her in such a large number.”
Former Newcastle and England midfielder Dyer suffered sexual abuse as a baby and saved it a secret for 28 years earlier than sharing his trauma with the world.
Kieron Dyer has opened as much as Sky Sports activities about how psychological well being stigma has affected him as a participant
Dyer did his greatest to masks his ache whereas taking part in skilled soccer when it comes to habits and admits “a variety of it was bravado”.
“I used to be a really susceptible child and I took these traits and made him into a person who could not present weak spot or worry as a result of I did not need to be this susceptible little boy that was being taken benefit of,” Dyer stated. Sky sports activities.
“Deep in my psyche there was somebody who needed to be heard and somebody who needed to be helped and by chance for me I lastly bought that assist.
Dyer says his footballing persona concerned a variety of bravado
“It was after my profession ended, not whereas it was taking place. I sincerely consider that my profession would have taken one other route [If I had got help while playing].”
Different contributors embrace PFA Director of Participant Welfare Dr Michael Bennett, Dr Michael Caulfield, Brentford’s Chief Psychologist, Thomas Frank and Thoughts’s Hayley Jarvis.
One in eight males within the UK are stated to endure from a “widespread psychological well being downside” corresponding to melancholy or anxiousness.
Solely 30% of individuals in discuss remedy are males, however 75% of all suicides within the nation are males. As much as one in ten males have thought of suicide.
What’s extra, in accordance with statistics from the psychological well being charity Thoughts, suicide is the largest killer of males beneath 45.
We hope that by tapping into Sky’s viewers and telling among the tales of the largest names in gaming, we will result in optimistic change and assist break down the psychological well being stigma.
Watch ‘Tackling the Stigma’ at 10.30pm on Thursday 18 Could on Sky Sports activities Premier League and Sky Sports activities Soccer – the documentary can even be obtainable on demand
If you’re affected by these points or want to focus on them, please contact the Samaritans on the free helpline 116 123, or go to the web site www.samaritans.org
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