Dublin footballer Nicole Owens in attendance to mark the 10-year anniversary of Samaritans as the GAA Mental Health Partner at Croke Park in Dublin. Through the partnership, GAA players and former players team up with Samaritans volunteers from across the country to reduce the stigma around mental health and encourage anyone in need to seek help. For information contact s.stack@samaritans.org. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
In the 10 years that Samaritans have been the GAA’s Mental Health Partner, conversations around mental health have thankfully become much less stigmatised than they once were.
At grassroots level Samaritans volunteers liaise with the GAA’s County Health & Wellbeing Committees and Healthy Club Officers to raise awareness of its services and encourage anyone going through a difficult time to access the support available.
The ongoing conversation has been further boosted by the involvement of several high-profile Gaelic games players who have shared their own stories and, in the process, become powerful advocates for the importance of minding your mental health.
Dublin LGFA star, Nicole Owens, took that brave step in 2017 when she opened up about her own mental health challenges in ‘Blues Sisters’, an excellent documentary about the Dublin LGFA team’s All-Ireland winning season that year.
Talking frankly about her struggle with depression and anxiety was a cathartic experience for Owens and is the reason why she’s now so passionate about her role as an Ambassador for Samaritans.
“Having gone through that experience, now I can see how easy it could have gotten a lot worse,” said Owens at an event to mark the 10-year anniversary of Samaritans as the GAA's Mental Health Partner.
“So I’m incredibly grateful for that. That’s what I’m so eager to talk about this and keep the conversation going.
“In my family, we had a death by suicide last year. A young man. It’s getting to the stage where you realise you have to put your hand up. You can’t get help until people know you need help.
“I read a book about disconnections and the hypothesis is that we’re more disconnected from society and community now, which is why the GAA plays such a big role. But, to be honest, my heart goes out to kids growing up now a days.
“Not to be, waving a flag of social media is bad but…previously you just disconnected from everything in a healthy way. Whereas now, there are things like reading that I need to do now that allows me to regulate my emotions and just completely disconnect from everything and bring down my stress and anxiety.
“Now you have a while new generation who are getting sucked into TikTok and the barrier to picking up a book is much greater now. I think that’s linked to the rise in anxiety. Young people have experienced a lot. A pandemic. There’s a whole generation of people who didn’t experience school or college the way it was intended.”
Dublin players, from left, Sinéad Goldrick, Sinéad Aherne, Nicole Owens and Niamh McEvoy celebrate at the final whistle of the TG4 Ladies Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Final match between Dublin and Mayo at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile.
Opening up and talking about whatever mental health challenges you might have is the first and perhaps most important step you can make, but Owens knows herself the journey continues thereafter.
“Yeah, I think that’s a big thing,” she says. “With a physical thing, it’s treated and then it’s fixed. Firstly, the language of fixed is probably the wrong language to use (for mental health).
“The idea that you can open up to someone, you can talk about it and then it’s gone. That’s unfortunately not the case. Since 2017, I’ve had ups and downs and had a bad period where I sort of took it for granted and thought, ‘that’s all in the past now.’
“And I ended up with egg on my face. I had to be like, ‘I’m not OK.’ Even though I think I’m resilient and I think I’m dealing with the pressures I’m actually not dealing with, I’ll go back and talk to someone then and holding myself accountable – that’s been a big part of it.
“I’m a lot more in tune with my body and my mind than I ever was before. I know now the last while has been a bit hectic and I feel that tension in myself. It’s sort of taking a step back. I know myself I’m not going to tear around this weekend.
“I’m going to go in the sauna. I’m going to go for a swim. I’m going to take that time. It’s almost like regular maintenance. Literally, it’s like gardening. Honestly.
“You might plant loads of plants and it looks beautiful. I did it with my garden and I looked out the other day and there were weeds. But that’s really what it is.
“Keeping an eye on yourself. Realising when your mood has shifted that you need to do a bit of…pruning – to really hammer the gardening analogy home!”
Over time Owens has learned you must develop a deeper understanding of your own mental health so you can recognise the triggers that can negatively affect it and the tools you can develop to improve it.
“When I was going through, I probably just internalised it,” she says. “I just thought it was my personality rather than these negative thought patterns I was having. Even putting a name on it made a huge difference.
“It’s trying to appreciate that you don’t have to feel this way. It’s not just the way you are. When it gets to stage that it’s really bad, giving people the education and the emotional awareness to be able to identify those triggers.
“I’m able to identify now when I get to a place that is really negative, there is structure and foundation around me to know what to do.”