IT is genuinely hard to imagine the pain suffered by the Mitchell family over the last few years.
Stirling-born Chris Mitchell was a promising young footballer who played professionally for Falkirk, Bradford City. But complications from spinal surgery had a devastating impact on his fitness and eventually he had to leave the game. The transition to life off the park didn’t come easy for Chris, however, and during a bout of depression in 2016 he killed himself, aged just 27.
The decision of Chris’s father, Philip Mitchell, to speak publicly of his son’s anguish is a brave one as it shines a light on an issue that has remained hidden for too long. Football remains a macho sport, one that is by its very nature competitive and pressured both on and off the pitch. That makes it especially hard for young men to open up about mental health.
Chris Mitchell didn’t feel there was anywhere he could turn for help, and that’s one of the reasons his family has set up a foundation in his name to raise awareness of the issue.
It is already making a difference, encouraging clubs to focus on the mental as well as physical welfare of players, and inspiring football charity the SPFL Trust to introduce a mental health first aid course, thought to be the first of its kind anywhere in the sporting world. The likes of Celtic and Rangers have already received training, while other sports such as rugby are also being targeted.
It’s only relatively recently that depression in professional sport has been talked about at all, of course.
England cricketer Jonathan Trott was one of the first to open up about his mental health problems after suffering a breakdown during the 2013 Ashes series. Former Celtic captain Neil Lennon didn’t talk about his battles with depression until after his playing days were over.
Meanwhile, Tottenham and England player Danny Rose has been refreshingly honest about his depression, perhaps encouraged by the positive team dynamic created by manager Gareth Southgate.
Not that these issues only afflict men, however. Only last month Olympic snowboarder Ellie Soutter took her own life on her 18th birthday, her devastated family talking afterwards of how they believed the extreme pressures of elite sport had contributed to her death.
Clearly, there are no easy answers here. No sphere of life goes untouched by mental health problems and suicide, and young people are known to be particularly badly affected. But it’s how society responds that counts.
And we must surely follow the excellent lead of the Mitchell family not only in their willingness to be open, but also in the practical steps they have taken to ensure other young people receive the sort of help that wasn’t available to Chris. We hope this will bring them comfort in their grief.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here