Willow Grove Consultants

💬 Occupational Deprivation in Female Footballers: Impact on Mental Health 🧠⚽ This week, we met with Mark McGuigan, an experienced Occupational Therapist, to explore the critical role OT can play in managing mental health for athletes. Mark shared insights on how occupational deprivation—when players are separated from the activities they love due to injury—can have profound impacts on mental well-being. Injuries in football don’t just challenge physical health—they can strip players of their meaningful activities, leading to occupational deprivation. For many female footballers, being sidelined impacts routines, social connections, and personal identity. This isolation can lead to feelings of frustration, loneliness, and even depression. 👉 Research shows that mental health symptoms among female professional football players range widely: 1% experience substance misuse, while up to 65% report sport-related psychological distress at the start. Six months later, 53% still experience psychological distress, with 6% facing anxiety. At the 12-month mark, 55% continue to struggle with psychological distress (Bilgoe et al., 2024). A holistic approach in player care, including mental health support and meaningful engagement outside of sport, is crucial. By understanding and addressing these challenges, we can foster a healthier, more resilient playing environment. Listen to the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/erSkFDmT #WomenInFootball #MentalHealthMatters #OccupationalDeprivation #InjuryRecovery

Do we think enough about the loss of meaningful occupations and the impact on mental health from that loss?🤔 Is there a place when a player is injured for them to learn a new skill, hobby, occupation or is it all business and just get them back on the pitch because that's their job. Is there a case for Occupational Therapy within football or do we cover all this within the current MDT set up? This podcast really got me thinking about holistic management and how we look after players during the rehab process.

In this week's episode of the Women's Football hub podcast Carolyn Kent meets Mark McGuigan an occupational therapist and they spoke about the case for OT in Football especially in relation to mental health during injury. Listen to the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/erSkFDmT #WomensFootball #MentalHealthInSports #OccupationalTherapy Susie Wilson #RCOT #Occupationaltherapist

It’s Occupational Therapy Week so no better time to talk about how we’ve been making efforts to include OT within sport! A huge thanks to Carolyn Kent for giving us the opportunity to speak about my work! Would be great to hear your thoughts! #OTWeek

Derby Day in the North East! Sunderland AFC Women v Newcastle United Football Club Women with the Geordies coming out on top! A brilliant day out! #toontoon

This post from Jake Humphrey perfectly demonstrates how we work as a not-for-profit. When we work together to build something great, we can build something with a greater impact, and create more meaningful sustainable change, which is the ultimate aim! Collaboration > competition. A few other amazing organisations we've been supporting/supported by include: Willow Grove Consultants, Kyniska Advocacy, Project RED-S, Athlete Now, International Olympic Committee – IOC (through the Procter & Gamble Athletes For Good programme). Just a few of our dream collaborations (who aren't affiliated with us)? Mind, Sporting Wellness and UK Sport. #mentalhealth #athletesupport #athletewellbeing #womeninsport #girlsinsport #mentalhealthsupport #athletes #femaleatheltes #notforprofit #sportsindustry #womeninsports

It’s World Mental Health Day today. A good time to remind ourselves that rainbows follow showers! Here’s to all of our clients who took the step, who reached out, who sent us a DM, who just had a quick catch up via WhatsApp. I hope your day is filled with rainbows! PS If you are an athlete or work in sport, and you want to have a chat about your mental health, get in touch! #worldmentalhealthday

Little visit to Eppleton! Great game and three points for the visitors!

I thought these had all been lost! Quite the nostalgic morning back home! Always been obsessed with Manchester United & Newry City Athletic Football Club!

We’ve been a bit quiet on here recently, but that’s because we’ve had an incredibly busy few months! We continue to work into a number of top flight clubs in a range of sports, as well as working with athletes on a 1:1 basis. It can be a really tough time of the year with Post Olympic Blues, contract negotiations, big life decisions, and just being a human being too! We’re here to help! If you are an athlete, or operate within elite sporting environments, and you are concerned about your mental health - or you just think having a real life mental health professional operating in your sporting organisation would be an awesome idea - get in touch! #mentalhealth #mentalhealthinsport #playerwelfare #athletewellbeing