Ballysteen GAA have today launched a document packed with tips and information on mental fitness. The club’s Pieta House contact Eamonn Murphy explains the background: “Pieta House ran a pilot project in Limerick a couple of years ago to get all GAA clubs to put forward one or more individuals to act as a link between the club and Pieta House. It was a great initiative to start the conversation and explain that GAA clubs can play a role in helping their members and the wider community in the area of mental health. With a view to keeping that momentum going we’ve put together some information that should be of general interest and hopefully some practical benefit to readers.
We called it Mental Fitness, to point out that in the same way that your physical fitness can vary from time to time, so can your mental fitness. Both types of fitness respond to some training and investment, and like physical training will enable you to complete the long run or shuttle sprints, mental fitness will help you to get through the challenges that can arise and in general make you happier and more resilient.
Observing the “do no harm” principle, and since we don’t have mental health professionals in the club, we wanted to make sure that the material was appropriate for the intended audience so we worked with Dr. Colum Gavin GP to get his insight. We hope other clubs and organisations might share this information with their members and are welcome to customise it with local contact details etc. Please email eamonntmurphy@hotmail.com for other formats which may be easier to edit.”