Our member and Sky Sports News presenter Rob Wotton says people are more open about their mental health issues than ever before.
Rob is known to millions of UK sports fans as one of the faces of Sky Sports News.
He’s also a member of BACP and has spoken about the value of counselling in a wide-ranging interview for the Man Marking podcast series
Mental health
“Mental health is something that is very high on my agenda,” he said. “If we take a second suicide is the biggest killer of men under 30.
“I try to get my head around that. It’s not smoking, it’s not driving your car too fast, it’s not cancer, it’s not anything else, it’s suicide.
“To think of the mental anguish, pain that people have gone through to get to that state.
“And also the mental anguish and pain that those people leave behind afterwards, that is a statistic you really have to stop and think and wonder whether we’re addressing as a society well enough.”
Private practice
Rob was one of the original Sky Sports News presenters when it launched in October 1998. He combines his presenting with working in private practice, and is also a qualified scuba diving instructor
He added: “We’re much more open, we’re much more willing and free to talk about these things, and that can only be of benefit and of help.
“Talking is huge. It’s the only way.
Reach out
“There’s a phrase I like which is ‘I alone can do this but I can’t do this alone’. I think it’s a wonderful little phrase.
“What it means to me is that if my mental health is suffering it’s only me who can reach out but I need someone else to come and help me when I do reach out.
“We need other people to help us through these things and the fact the biggest killer of men under 30 is suicide is so utterly upsetting because it is, in most cases, avoidable.”
If you want to speak to a BACP counsellor, you can find a therapist near you through our directory.
Image credit: Sky Sports News
