UCC minds focus on mental health

I was going to kick off this Monday by saying that mental health had popped up on the agenda once again last week, but it doesn’t seem to drift too far from the agenda at any stage nowadays.

The awareness of a need to maintain good mental health among sportspeople, for whom good physical health is a given, is now a topic that is front and centre. No harm, either. Only last week England cricketer Jonathan Trott dropped out of his side’s trip to Australia to deal with stress-related issues.

I don’t quite know what to make of his Australian opponents’ comments that they won’t make his illness a topic for their sledging in the next Ashes clash with England, mind. Should you really have to applaud people for being big enough not to mock other sportspeople about one of their team-mates being sick? The openness about maintaining your mental health is welcome, of course, with high profile players across all sports showing commendable frankness about their struggles in that regard. In that context it’s good to see Universtity College Cork sports clubs joining the drive to spread awareness of the matter.