One step at a time- a mental health story

During the summer, as he completed a 579-mile walk, Cambridge United FC’s Head Groundsman, Ian Darler, set his sights on a new charity challenge.

This time, it was in aid of a local mental health charity: Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and South Lincolnshire (CPSL) Mind.

Having previously walked the equivalent of London to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup, Ian was well prepared for this epic charity mileage count. The aim was to walk the distance from the Abbey Stadium in Cambridge to Berlin, the city hosting the Euro 2024 final.

Ian reflected on the challenge: “The London to Qatar challenge was my first big walk. It was immense and loads of people came out to support and take part. CPSL Mind approached me to do the Cambridge to Berlin walking challenge, and the plan was made to cover just over seven hundred miles.”

Ian spoke about one of his close friends as one of his motivators for taking on different challenges: “One of my friends came to see me, and he was buzzing about Cambridge United being in the playoffs and had just secured a new job…. the very next day, he took his own life, and I still feel guilty to this day.”

“On reflection, I showed the same behaviour when I was battling with my own mental health; I had people at work saying how happy I seemed, but I was working hard to hide my issues. I always say, do not assume that everyone who is suffering from mental health and depression will be miserable.”

He alluded to his mental health experience when discussing why he wanted to start the mental health challenges: “My challenges after my accident have been a big motivation as there was limited help from my work. At the time, mental health wasn’t something that people spoke about. You feel alone when you are in that mental space and you don’t want to tell your family or wife; you feel weak, not the person you should be and it takes all confidence away from you.”

“It is okay to have a bad day, but it’s not okay to have several bad weeks. The pressure builds up, you start to become frustrated with what’s going on, and you are covering up how you feel and hiding it - that’s when you need the support from those around you. I always say to ask someone if they are okay twice: normally the second time they’ll tell you.”

On working in turfcare, Ian said: “I was a true groundsman - the first in and last out the door each day. I have always been honest about the journey after my accident and how I struggled with pain which caused me to lose sleep. I later got diagnosed with PTSD, which made a lot of sense to me. Things started to change when I had my book published (Life’s A Pitch)… the chapter called “Life Changing” has made many people come forward and speak to me.”

With the tough weather conditions increasing last season, Ian had his first game in twenty years called off. He commented: “Someone (on a well known media sporting channel) suggested that Cambridge United were a disgrace because we didn’t call the game off earlier. If they had visited at 3pm, the pitch looked great and the weather was fantastic. By 6:15pm the rain had started; but then by 7pm, I told the chairperson that we could have a challenge. We had two inches of rain in about 30 minutes, so at 8:10pm the referee had called off the game. How do you legislate for those types of conditions?”

Ian alluded to the European Championship in Germany last summer when discussing the extreme conditions that can influence the job: “The weather at times was shocking and a lot of those pitches had been used off the back of the previous season. Some of them only had about five weeks to prepare, but when you aren’t in the turfcare business, you will never understand how things work. Climate change is putting a lot of pressure on people and you do sometimes feel threatened when you can’t help the elements.”

He highlighted improvements at Cambridge United regarding mental health and wellbeing: “The club have progressed a lot; Director, Mr Godrick Smith, has done a lot of work to improve mental health in football. We have regular meetings to make sure that everything is okay, which includes all sectors within the club”

Training Ground after severe flooding.

“We also have many resources on hand. We have ambassadors that people can go and speak to if they are struggling. Go Vox sends out an email to all staff to check in on their mental health and you are asked to complete a survey. We’ve also got Mynurva, which every member of staff has access to, and which gives you a clinical representative that you can see three times a season. In the season just gone, the club decided to extend that to season ticket holders, which I think is a great initiative.”

When advising about wellbeing facilities at work, Ian said: “Every employer needs to be on board with health and safety and mental health. If you are struggling with your mental health, you are potentially not concentrating. An employer should never be saying to just get on with it - that is not how life is. There is nothing worse than not knowing where to go when you are feeling helpless and even suicidal. Thankfully, I now have a boss who understands turfcare and wants to support us, but I have sympathy for those who are getting the bad end of the stick.”

He concluded with his top tips for clubs wanting to begin a wellbeing programme: “I would firstly ask myself, do I have anywhere I can go for help with my mental health at work? If the answer is no, then you need to take a look at it. Even going online and having a look for information is worth doing.”

Tim Walker - Head of Programmes, Cambridge United Foundation

Tim Walker from the Cambridge United Foundation highlighted the work that has been done in the community to improve wellbeing: “We are proud to represent Cambridge United within the community, taking the vision about mental health from the club into the local area. Mental health and wellbeing underpin everything that we do across all of our programmes.

When developing a new project, we often think - How is this going to benefit someone’s wellbeing? We work with participants from the ages of 9 to 99; for young people, we run mental health workshops where we try and reduce the negative stigma around the topic, and for older people we run a dementia café to not only support the individuals but also the carers and family members. We want to create a positive environment for everyone around the club and the local area.”

Ben Barton, Cambridge United Club ChaplAin

Cambridge United Club Chaplain, Ben Barton, commented on the wellbeing progress: “There are two chaplains at the club; I look after the staff and the other one looks after the players. That’s an indication of how seriously we take the welfare of everyone in the Cambridge United family. I act as an independent listener which is outside of line manager structures, intending to look after everyone who is associated with the club. We value supporting the mental health of our staff… one of the ways we do that is something called Thursday Time Outs, which is once a month away from the desk to do something social, allowing staff to clear their minds from work and focus on themselves.”