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May 12, 2023
English rugby union club, the Harlequins and The Harlequins Foundation have partnered with pioneering mental health social media platform JAAQ (Just Ask A Question) to help break the stigma surrounding mental health in sport. Professional rugby players and coaches will share their personal stories of mental health struggles on JAAQ, which provides guidance to topics across mental health, societal pressures and physical wellbeing and health. This partnership is reportedly “a first in the world of mental health and sport.”
Research from Mind UK charity on mental health in elite sport shows that there are three pressure points which can heavily affect an athlete’s mental health: leaving your journey to elite sports or rejection from academies at a young age, retirement for professional athletes and struggling in silence due to the stigma attached to mental health problems. The research also shows that in the world of rugby, the death by suicide of England rugby player Terry Newton in 2010 heavily impacted the entire rugby league community. The State of Mind (SoM) campaign was founded shortly after, specifically to support rugby players and since we’ve seen many rugby-related wellbeing and mental health initiatives and ways of support.
Founder Danny Gray created JAAQ in 2021 when he noticed the ever-widening gap in support and information for those experiencing mental health issues; data shows around 20% of young people with mental ill health wait more than six months to receive care from a specialist and often they are already at crisis point. The platform seeks to “revolutionize the way people access and share information about mental health. Giving people access to world leading experts, people with lived experience among others.”
JAAQ is completely free and available to anyone. When a question is asked, video answers are given from world renowned consultants in their field. It has answers to over 50,000 hard-hitting questions across 50 different topics including depression, addiction, physical health and fertility. Harlequins’ stars such as Marcus Smith, Louis Lynagh, Scott Steele, Sam Riley, Fin Baxter and Lewis Gjaltema have recorded answers to questions on the pressures of a career in professional rugby and how it impacts their mental health. Players and coaches from across the Men’s and Women’s rugby team will continue to share their stories regularly on JAAQ and the club’s channels in the future as it seeks to promote positive mental health and welfare.
“Professional sportspeople are amazing role models and to have the guys talking so openly about their own experiences of mental health is a proper game changer. This is how JAAQ will change the face of mental health, giving people quality information in the right way at the right time, at the click of a button,” said Gray.
This new partnership is an extension of Harlequins’ existing work in the mental health space and an addition to its resources and toolkits to support its local community – Twickenham – in London, England. The Foundation has a series of mental health initiatives including Lend An Ear, Mettle, Ahead of The Game and the Skills Builder toolkit which focuses on staying positive and building mental resilience.
The free Harlequins-JAAQ platform is live with the first five men’s players interviews, with more to follow in the coming weeks.
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