Former England players Andrew Flintoff and Monty Panesar, two of the PCA’s new team of Mental Health Ambassadors, have appeared in new films for the Association’s pioneering Mind Matters personal well being series.
Ex Lancashire all-rounder Flintoff, the PCA President, and Northamptonshire slow left-armer Panesar appear in the refreshed films along with Marcus Trescothick, the Somerset and former England batsman, and Jason Ratcliffe, the PCA Assistant Chief Executive, discussing anxiety, depression, alcohol, addictive behaviours, gambling addiction, self-harm and importantly about how to get help.
The contributions of Flintoff and Panesar, who have both spoken openly about their own battles with depression and anxiety, provide a refreshed introduction to the original Mind Matters tutorial, which was launched in 2012.
Anxiety & Depression https://kvgo.com/TheHall/2016_MM_Anxiety_and_Depression Addictive Behaviours https://kvgo.com/TheHall/2016_MM_Introduction Self Harm & Suicide https://kvgo.com/TheHall/2016_MM_Self_Harm_and_Suicide Getting Help https://kvgo.com/TheHall/2016_MM_Getting_Help Alcohol & Drugs https://kvgo.com/TheHall/2016_MM_Alcohol_and_Drugs Gambling https://kvgo.com/TheHall/2016_MM_Gambling
Although the Mind Matters series is aimed primarily at PCA members – past, present and future first-class cricketers in England and Wales – Ratcliffe hopes the new tutorial will also help the wider public.
“In line with the announcement that Andrew and Monty are among our Mental Health Ambassadors, we have refreshed our Mind Matters tutorial,” Ratcliffe said.
“It’s fantastic resource to raise awareness and understanding of these key issues. We hope the tutorials will be hugely beneficial, first and foremost to our members, but also to the general public.”
Flintoff, who was elected only the seventh President in the PCA’s history earlier this year, said: “We feel this tutorial is relevant to all of our members partly due to some recent high profile instances of addiction in professional sportsmen but, primarily, because the primary objective of the PCA is to protect and improve the welfare of our members.”
In addition to Flintoff and Panesar the PCA have also appointed four more England internationals, Graeme Fowler, Marcus Trescothick, Tim Ambrose and Mike Yardy and Iain O’Brien, the former New Zealand seamer, as Mental Health Ambassadors.
All have appeared in the PCA’s Mind Matters series talking frankly about their own experiences of depression or anxiety and Fowler recently took part in the PCA’s pre-season visits to the 18 first-class counties and MCC Young Cricketers where he spoke to current professional cricketers.
Full details of the PCA Mental Health Ambassadors can be found http://www.thepca.co.uk/7909.html
