0:01
i don't think that mental health was
0:03
discussed that much when
0:04
i was at school definitely wasn't with
0:08
it was something that it just was never
0:11
we'd be able to talk about if we were
0:13
upset or anything like that but it was
0:16
openly discussed as being something to
0:19
do with mental health
0:20
in the same way that physical health was
0:25
there's definitely been times throughout
0:27
my career playing rugby when
0:30
i've struggled with my mental health in
0:33
in the squad to go to the olympics and
0:37
i knew that only 12 would go and
0:40
that was always a risk that obviously as
0:43
an athlete you have to take
0:44
and in the lead up to it a couple of
0:47
months out from the olympics
0:49
my mum passed away and i was injured at
0:53
and i think that was a really big
0:56
down point for me um i had loads of
1:00
all the girls were amazing but at the
1:03
same time i then also didn't get to
1:05
go to the olympics so there was like a
1:07
double kick in the teeth of
1:09
struggling with going through everything
1:11
with my family but also my sport
1:13
so the two things that kind of make me
1:17
um you know things that things were
1:20
pretty low at that point
1:22
you kind of think actually life's too
1:26
and also it's not just about sport
1:30
um so if things weren't going right with
1:32
sport there's always going to be
1:34
in your life that you can kind of turn
1:36
to so it did kind of make me look at
1:38
things in a different way
1:40
in a different light and i think that my
1:42
ability to cope with when things haven't
1:44
always gone right in my sport since then
1:46
i've actually become a lot stronger so
1:49
bad things happen there's always
1:51
something you can take from it
1:53
to make you grow as a person the biggest
1:57
i was going through everything with my
1:58
mum is i didn't want people to treat me
2:00
to how they treated me previously the
2:04
the girls have banter with you and
2:05
everything like that i just wanted that
2:07
to continue so that everything in my
2:10
seemed to be a constant other than the
2:12
fact that my mum was no longer there
2:15
um i wanted everything else to stay the
2:17
same i didn't want people to treat me
2:18
any differently i didn't want people to
2:19
trade on eggshells around me
2:21
and actually they didn't they really
2:25
you know the following week and all that
2:27
kind of stuff i just wanted everything
2:29
back to as normal as possible so i could
2:31
carry on like my mum wouldn't
2:33
have wanted me to just mope around and
2:36
not do the sport that i loved
2:37
and i i was really lucky to have the
2:39
support of the coaches
2:41
and the girls at that time like they
2:43
really helped me through that that tough
2:47
the biggest advice that i would give to
2:49
people that are going through whether
2:52
the loss of a family member injury you
2:55
feeling like things aren't going their
2:59
or or in their sport or whatever it is i
3:02
think before it becomes
3:04
a big thing speak out about it get the
3:06
support and although it might
3:08
feel uncomfortable talking about it you
3:11
people to see you in a vulnerable
3:13
position actually talking about it makes
3:16
so much easier and there will always be
3:19
people that are willing to help you
3:21
so yeah i think that reaching out before
3:25
it becomes something bigger
3:26
is the biggest part of that
3:29
when you're unable to compete or perform
3:33
the way that you know that you can and
3:37
it feels like part of your identity is
3:40
you kind of have to learn for yourself
3:44
makes you able to carry on to keep
3:46
pushing through to stay motivated
3:48
and for me especially with a longer
3:51
longer injury the biggest thing for me
3:54
smaller goals and to take myself
3:58
away from what was actually going on
4:01
in the rugby environment stay in my lane
4:04
forget about what other people are doing
4:06
how well they're doing
4:07
what i'm missing out on concentrate on
4:09
getting myself back to
4:11
being as strong as possible and getting
4:13
myself ready to go and perform again
4:15
whether it's a little niggle that you
4:19
these things happen you you get injured
4:22
learning what works for you and what
4:24
makes you tick in that time when
4:27
you might otherwise struggle we all see
4:30
physical illnesses and someone goes to
4:34
as soon as they've got a little niggle
4:36
and it gets sorted before it becomes a
4:38
but with mental health i think that it's
4:41
something that we kind of put on a back
4:42
burner and try and avoid a little bit
4:45
there's so many initiatives now you know
4:48
are talking about mental health and how
4:50
we should support one another and
4:53
to if we're struggling with anything to
4:57
straight away get the support that we
4:58
need before it becomes a bigger issue
5:02
i saw if i was struggling a little bit
5:04
or feeling down about something
5:06
as a weakness rather than just knowing
5:08
that that's absolutely normal to feel
5:15
you know you get small injury you go and
5:17
see a physio straight away but
5:19
we don't really think about speaking
5:23
if we're having those low days and it's
5:26
it's when one low day becomes a week or
5:30
and actually you get yourself into a bad
5:35
of like suffering and and you can't find
5:38
actually if we all understand like how
5:41
important it really is to notice those
5:45
we can get that help and and it won't
5:48
there's there's too many people we're
5:52
suicides especially with the pandemic
5:55
and if friends and family would have
5:57
known that that person was suffering
5:59
they would have done everything
6:00
in their power to be able to help them
6:03
and i think too many of us don't speak
6:06
about when we are suffering if it was
6:08
just as easy as it is to go and
6:10
and see a physio to go and see like
6:14
a psychologist or something like that
6:16
then more people would do it but i think
6:18
there's been that stigma around it
6:21
that you're weak if you're having to go
6:23
and see someone about your mental health
6:25
so it's definitely something that i
6:26
think that we should continue to keep
6:28
talking about keep helping each other
6:31
and hopefully it won't turn into
6:36
we are stronger together we are my
