'There's still a stigma' - racing charity intent on mental health training

British racing's workforce have been urged to make use of mental health first-aid courses run by one of the sport's charities, whose officials say it could help save someone's life.

Racing Welfare began staging the courses, which come with a qualification accredited by Mental Health First Aid England and can also be done online, in 2019 and since then more than 500 of the industry's staff have been trained.

The latest class took place on Tuesday and Wednesday at Oaksey House in Lambourn, although only eight of the 16 available places were filled. That is something Karen Ladym, Racing Welfare's project lead for mental health services, is determined to change.

She said: "Our vision is to have a mental health first-aider in every workplace in racing because it's equally as important as physical health. But it's not perceived as such and neither is government legislation, which says a workplace should have a physical first-aider, but not a mental health one.

"There's still a stigma. There's accepted language like saying you're stressed or having OCD, but talking about psychosis, depression, anxiety disorders or panic attacks is different.

"We're trying to train staff from the racing industry – yards, studs, media, racecourses – as mental health first-aiders, so people don't get to crisis points, where perhaps they feel suicidal. It's about recognising signs and symptoms early and sometimes people don't want to ask that first question because they haven't got the toolkit to deal with it.

"With suicides, we know between 80 and 90 per cent of the time there are signs and symptoms; it's just knowing what to look out for."

Racing Welfare: charity's courses come with a professional qualification

Ladym, who has been with Racing Welfare for 16 years, said five colleagues had become instructors, so training can be delivered more widely, while all of the organisation's welfare officers have the qualification.

Another course takes place in Newmarket in November and Ladym added: "This course is for 16 people and we used to have a reserve list because people were so keen, but since the pandemic we've had less interest, even though mental health problems have increased in that time.

"We don't know if it's time because it's two days to complete the course in person or it's spread over two weeks online, but we do know there's a real need out there for people to do them. They would normally be £300, but they're £80 with us as we subsidise the rest.

"They won't be professionals, but they can encourage that person to seek professional help and it's a good first step."

Racing Welfare's media and communications officer Chloe Martin, whose husband Chris was an integral part of former Lambourn trainer Joe Tuite's yard, said: "One in four people will have mental health issues in their life at some point and racing is not immune to that.

"It's one of our key services and we take it very seriously. If we can get more people on the ground to raise awareness and point towards help, the better."

Anyone affected by mental health problems or interested in learning more is encouraged to visit www.racingwelfare.co.uk/mental-health

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