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Wasps have revealed how they came to the aid of Academy player Will Wilson, who has revealed his mental health battle led to a suicide attempt.

The Premiership club has also seen former players Kearnan Myall and Alex Rieder reveal their own battles in the last 12 months. Club doctor Ralph Mitchell is working with Premiership Rugby currently, developing the initial work he has started on mental health screening for Wasps players.

He said: “At Wasps we are one of the few, if not only, clubs that now incorporate mental health screening for our athletes as part of their pre-season physical screening. This is done using standardised screening tools which the players fill in anonymously and which come to me. On the basis of this information we can identify at-risk players and offer mental health interventions to help them.

“Similarly, if a player has suffered a long-term injury then mental health screening is done to ensure they aren’t slipping mentally as they begin their rehabilitation process. Players can see me away from the club at my surgery in a neutral setting to discuss any issues they may be having and my phone is always on for help."

Mental health is a serious issue in everyday life

Mitchell added: “I will still have overall responsibility for Will even though he’s on loan at Pirates and he will still be monitored and supported by myself and our psychology staff at Wasps. We’re really pleased with the progress that Will has made and his story is a great example of how we can get things right regarding mental health in professional sport. Mental health is a serious issue in everyday life and we’re really only touching the tip of the iceberg within professional sport. We have to do more to support players across Rugby Union – and across sport in general.”

Wasps have stated before they recognise the importance of player wellbeing and it is something that is taken very seriously, stressing the club supports players and staff to 'ensure individuals are not faced with these perilous situations'.

Former Wasps Psychologist Neil Addington, who now works with Celtic FC, explained how the club and other agency united to help.

“Will first approached me over a year ago when he asked to have a chat and revealed he was suffering from depression. Through our conversation and recognising the boundaries of my competence as a sport psychologist, it was clear that further support would be beneficial to help Will with this clinical level of depression and suicidal thinking.

“Through the services provided by the RPA, Will was able to, and encouraged, to access support through Cognacity - who provide the highest quality of care across their services with world-leading experts in mental health and performance services. However, the referral pathway isn’t straightforward, with the support not being immediate, so therefore I continued to work with Will, giving him an outlet to share what he was going through, rather than just leaving him to wait until he received this external support.

Incredibly courageous

“Whilst Will received support from Cognacity, I maintained regular contact with both Will and the clinical psychologist he was seeing, with Will’s consent. This helped us as an Academy to provide a day-to-day environment that facilitated the support he was receiving with Cognacity alongside remaining aware and empathetic to what he was going through. During this time the club GP was also involved with Will’s circumstances, particularly when he was prescribed anti-depressants.

(Image: Bobby Bridge)

“Will was incredibly courageous to share what he was going through with me. Building a trusting and empathetic relationship, he not only felt comfortable to disclose the details of what he was experiencing but recognised the importance of other relevant members of staff being in the know (including managers, coaches, physios and doctors). This allowed us to create an environment that supported him and his needs as effectively as possible.

“Furthermore, it demonstrates the importance of having a clear referral pathway within clubs as well as triangulating information within this pathway to ensure players receive the best and most appropriate and effective support when suffering from mental ill-health. Rather than it being seen as something that is dealt with externally, the actual reality is that players may receive external support whilst still being in a club environment day-to-day. Therefore, it’s about us as staff having a level of awareness and understanding that allows us to provide as supportive an environment as possible that facilitates rather than undermines the external support players are receiving.”