Hitting mental health stigmas for six

Friday 12 April 2019

The Guernsey Cricket Board has committed to helping its players face up to mental health issues through the appointment of the island’s first Mental Health and Wellbeing Officer within a sport.

Hannah Eulenkamp, the current Guernsey Women’s Cricket Captain and trained Mental Health First Aider, has been given the voluntary role after the sport engaged with Guernsey Mind and its Team Talk campaign.

Hannah, a former county level cricketer, took time out from the sport a few years ago when her own mental health suffered and she lacked the necessary level of support locally.

"I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well in cricket and it became easier to run away and quit the sport than face it and overcome it," she said. "Having a Mental Health and Wellbeing Officer within our sport will create channels of conversation about our wellbeing and allow us to break down the stigma attached to it and understand the crippling, and sometimes devastating, effects of poor mental health."

She will act as a confidential point of contact for anyone within cricket who needs to talk about issues inside or outside the sport that are affecting their mental health. 

Pictured: Ash Wright (GCB), Laurel Le Tocq (Guernsey Mind), Ben Ferbrache (GCB) with the new boards in the KGV changing rooms promoting the Team Talk campaign.

Mark Latter, Chief Executive and Director of Cricket, said: "We all know what to do when someone has broken a leg or cut themselves, but when a player is suffering with a mental health issue the signs and appropriate action are not so obvious."

"Guernsey Cricket is committed to ensuring we hold the welfare of our players in the highest regard and the work with Guernsey Mind is another step towards providing a holistic approach to this. We are fortunate to have someone like Hannah with the skills to take this important role on, and alongside Ash as Ambassadors to lead our team. Our thanks to Laurel, Emily and the team at Guernsey Mind for their support in this.”

Staff, directors and players from Guernsey Cricket attended a Team Talk workshop on mental health in sport, run by Guernsey Mind, earlier this year.

Since then, Ms Eulenkamp and the men’s Head Coach Ash Wright have both become ambassadors of the Team Talk campaign, with the Team Talk motto of “We’re Stronger as a Team” being embedded into the ethos of the GCB.

Pictured top: Hannah Eulenkamp and Ash Wright.