See Me Scotland Partnership

Clyde FC will be getting people talking about mental health this season, after joining up with See Me, the national programme to end mental health discrimination.

The club will display the See Me logo on the back of the new away shirt, to encourage everyone connected with The Bully Wee to speak about mental health.

The partnership aims to help change the culture around mental health, so people with mental health problems to feel confident enough to talk, without the fear that they will be stigmatised and discriminated against.

Men in particular still find it hard to talk about how they are feeling, which can lead to problems getting worse. The latest figures show that the suicide rate for men is two and a half times that of women.

See Me and Clyde are hoping that they can show no one should be ashamed to talk about mental health, especially in a male dominated area like football.

In July, Hibernian manager Neil Lennon joined See Me to speak about the need for people to be there for each other and support those who are struggling with their mental health.

Getting people talking about mental health is a priority for the club, after the tragic death of former player Chris Mitchell earlier this year.

Clyde manager Barry Ferguson said: “Mental health is something that I’ve got to know a lot more about over the last few years. I’ve been involved in mental health charity work so I understand how it affects people and their lives.

“See Me is a great charity for Clyde to be working with. Raising awareness is very important and we are delighted to be doing what we can to help with that.”

Calum Irving, See Me’s director, said: “Mental health is part of everyone’s day to day life but there is still a stigma around it. To tackle this properly people need to understand that it is okay not to be okay and you can talk about it.

“There are unique pressures on footballers, that combined with working in a very macho environment, can make it hard to speak about mental health. But we want to show that mental health problems can affect any of us, at any time, and one in four of us will struggle in any one year, that could be at least two players in every football team.

“If you’re worried about someone, you don’t have to be an expert, just asking someone if they are okay and really listening can be a powerful thing.”