State of Mind: Liam Farrell
It’s almost seven years since the tragic death of former Wigan hooker Terry Newton prompted the creation of mental health charity, State of Mind.
Since then, the progress made by rugby league in terms of mental health has been incredible.
Round 18 marks the sixth successive year that Super League has dedicated an entire round of fixtures to State of Mind.
The whole movement has been embraced by players and fans alike, and the weekend will once again be another key part of the calendar.
Current Wigan and England back-rower, Liam Farrell, said: “I’m fully aware of the cases there’s been in the past and one of the big things about it I think is that people need to speak up and not just keep it to themselves.
“There’s definitely people around the rugby league now who can help them in situations. I’d like to think if there was anyone at our club or other clubs in Super League they could come out and talk about it, because we don’t want to see anything else to happen to players.
“I think players are getting more open about it. I think the more we do talk about it and the more we do to promote it, the more we see people come out, so I think it’s something we need to get behind and keep making sure we get the word out there.
“It’s not an easy thing to talk about. I’ve not had problems myself but I can imagine it’s something you don’t want to speak to anyone about, so you need to make it an environment where you can openly talk to someone and make sure their problems can be sorted.
“We don’t want people trying to deal with things on their own.”
State of Mind was formed to raise awareness of mental fitness and to tackle stigma around it. They have certainly managed to do that over the past six years, to the extent that themes now are looking at more specific examples of things that impact on mental health.
This year’s State of Mind theme looks at the pressures of loss – be it a relationship, a job, income, a home or a bereavement, and how people can deal with it.
You can speak with State of Mind volunteers at the marquee which will be situated at games across the weekend.
