Tackle your feelings: experience of help-seeking for mental wellbeing concerns in professional rugby union players

Lyons, Deirdre, Clarke, Philip and Dempsey, Robert C ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6477-2363 (2024) Tackle your feelings: experience of help-seeking for mental wellbeing concerns in professional rugby union players. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 18 (2). pp. 234-250. ISSN 1932-9261

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Abstract

Limited research into professional rugby union players’ experiences of seeking formal support for their mental health exists, despite comparable rates of mental health issues amongst elite rugby players with the general population. This qualitative study explored professional players’ actual experiences of accessing Rugby Players Ireland’s mental wellbeing service, via separate focus group discussions with professional players (n = 5) and player development managers (PDMs, n = 4) who refer players into the service. An inductive reflexive thematic analysis identified three themes detailing players’ (1) journey to disclosure of their mental health difficulties, (2) their expectations and engagement with the wellbeing service, and (3) participants’ reflections on mental health experiences in a high-performance environment. Embedding mental health as a key component of player development in high-performance environments, improving mental health literacy, normalising mental health experiences and encouraging help-seeking would help promote player wellbeing and support holistic development alongside sporting performance.