Mental health education for Sikkim cricketers

Sikkim Cricket Association in collaboration with Sikkim State AIDS Control Society and Freedom NGO organised a mental health education programme on Tuesday to help cricketers learn about mental health.

The workshop was delivered by resource persons from the Sikkim State AIDS Control Society and Freedom NGO to build young players’ mental fitness, resilience and confidence levels on and off the field.

Cricketers, physios, coaches and SICA staff attended the session and received helpful information to take home on how to support their and their friends’ mental fitness.

The programme was held to help young players learn how to recognise and cope with any negative thoughts and feelings and build their resilience to help them cope better in the future. The resource persons also shared how to recognise if a teammate is having a tough time, and how best to get them the help they need.

Athletes are vulnerable to mental health disorders as a result of the various specific stressors they experience in their sporting environment.

Besides, the players had an enlightening session on substance abuse, viral hepatitis, HIV/AIDS and STI/RTI.

The session was inaugurated with a welcome being accorded to the resource persons from Sikkim State AIDS Control Society and Freedom NGO by SICA.

SICA is serious about psychological well-being of the players will be taking measures to ensure that enough support is available at all levels to safeguard its most valuable assets – the players.