Developing proactive support of athlete mental health: Starting with cricket

During my PhD, I conducted a longitudinal investigation into professional cricketer mental health and used focus groups to explore how cricketers understand well-being. The longitudinal investigation evidenced the temporal component of cricketer mental health, and the well-being investigation highlighted novel ways cricketers understand well-being. Both studies have already produced significant applied implications, our research regarding the temporal component of athlete mental health has evidenced the importance of an off-season in sport, whilst the well-being work has informed the creation of a bespoke series of workshops tasked with enhancing cricketer well-being (Be Well: Play Well). Additionally, the findings from both studies have collectively informed the creation of a bespoke mental health tool, which I am currently devising in conjunction with the ECB. Nonetheless, there are data collected as part of the longitudinal investigation that have not been analysed. The findings from the proposed analysis are fundamental in achieving our overall aim to progress athlete mental health support from predominantly reactive to proactive. Specifically, over the three-year study, markers of mental health as well as hypothesised risk and protective factors were monitored. However, as a consequence of pandemic induced changes to the original PhD workplan, there was not time for the planned investigation regarding the risk/protective factors. Analysis of these risk/protective factors in relation to the markers of mental health hold the key to understanding who, when, why, and how cricketer mental health can be optimally supported. The mental health tool will comprise two parts that collectively achieve the vision of proactive optimisation of cricketer mental health. The first part is a well-being monitoring questionnaire which derives from key findings from my well-being research and has been co-created with ECB practitioners. The questionnaire will act as an informal personal check-in that a player can use to reflect on their well-being. The well-being monitoring will be nationally rolled out by the ECB over the Summer of 2025 requiring a review as part of the fellowship. The second part of the tool will comprise a personal profile of risk and protective factors, however the precise factors to be included require the completion of further analyses (to be done in the fellowship). The profiling will be player specific, acting as a guide for practitioners to tailor support at a level not yet achieved within professional athlete mental health provision. Ultimately, the tool will provide a means for players to better manage their own mental health through personalised monitoring, whilst practitioners will be provided with data that can support each specific player in a manner that optimises their mental health for the rest of their careers, if not lives. Activities related to the mental health tool will inevitably lead to personal development. Specifically, completing and disseminating the tool will demonstrate a track record of conducting world-leading research, successful co-creation with a national governing body, and project management. The tool will also act as a proof of concept forming the foundation of grant applications intended to support my career development. Additionally, dissemination of findings to the ECB and the Professional Cricketers’ Association will maintain existing networks whilst disseminating findings at national and international conferences will enhance my stature within academia.