This week is Mental Health Awareness week.

Sport is a really important support strategy for all of us for our mental health – whether it is:

• the quiet reflection time that many of us get with the steady rhythm of swimming or running,
• the flushing out of the high stress hormones of adrenaline and cortisol and replacement with better balanced hormones through gentle aerobic exercise,
• the fresh air and time away from screens, expectations and demands
• or any one of the many other reasons. What are yours?

These are widespread themes, medically-proven in their importance.

And yet, the stigma around mental health means that we so rarely talk about them. We will happily talk about all sorts of aspects of physical health, and yet not mental health.

This is a problem – as mental health is very similar to physical health:

• there can be periods of very bad mental health, just as physical health, but with the right healing people can make a full recovery
• in the event of a long-standing physical injury people can often find coping mechanisms (eg in the case of a knee injury: a longer warm up, use of a knee support, and more release work plus a relaxing bath at the end of the day). Mental health can be the same – if there is something that lingers, then there are a host of good support habits and mechanisms that people can tailor to their own needs
• it is scientifically-proven that people make a better recovery from physical and mental health challenges when they are connected into a strong social context, with people who care about them and activities that they can participate in, have fun and challenge themselves. Loneliness is one of the strongest predictors of a whole host of very negative outcomes

So it is for all of these reasons that I am passionate that we talk about Mental Health across the widest possible mix of people this week. In workplaces. With our friends. With people we have not seen for quite a while. With people in sports groups.

As sports coaches I think that we have an especially important responsibility in talking about it with athletes. And normalising it as a conversation in our training groups and sports clubs.  It can be easy for the whole identity of a person to get wrapped up into their sport, and if this slips for some reason (such as injury, or missing the achievements that they had set as goals), their whole identity can feel under threat. These things are not within the control of the athlete – but there is a lot of good sports psychology and wider tools and techniques that can help. As coaches, we need to be able to signpost and support.

So this week, I’ll be joining a British Triathlon Coaches group chat about mental health. To open up the conversation, we will be doing the classic ‘Desert Island Discs’ format of a music track, a book and a luxury item to take to the island. Here are mine:

• My music track is Susan Boyle singing ‘Make me a channel of your peace’. This is so remind me that the universe is so much bigger than me, and I need to quiet my mind to hear the messages from the universe in good times, as well as bad times. Susan also inspires me with her beautiful voice, the effort that she put in to harness this, and the growth journey that she went through (with its lows as well as its highs).

(I need to make a quick admission that there was a close run contest with Alfie Boe and Michael Ball singing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. Such a key anthem! I just felt that I would always feel a slight frisson of guilt, since my husband is a passionate Everton supporter!)

• My book is the encyclopedia of animals, birds and flowers. This is to remind me of the stunning creativity, beauty and amazing science in nature. I think that I will never get bored as I think through all of the incredible adaptations of the birds, animals and flowers to live a good life on a changing planet.
• My item is a magnifying glass. For a number of reasons: firstly, I do plan to live to a really old age and eyesight is likely to get worse, so at least I will be able to keep looking at my book with the magnifying glass! But also because it will enable me to focus the sun’s rays to make a fire whenever I am cold (I really hate being cold!) and finally, to remind me that as well as the big things like the stunning sunrises and sunsets, the small things often matter and can be very beautiful.

I hope that you will be able to have conversations this week with the people that you love and care about. Building our mental resilience tools is powerful at all stages in life – and those who have a fuller toolkit can manage more of the headwinds that can come our way at the least expected times.