Garstang FA Women's Championship referee speaks out about mental health

During Mental Health Week a referee for FA Women’s Championship and Barclays superleague is speaking out about depression.
Lucy BriggsLucy Briggs
Lucy Briggs

Lucy Briggs, 24, started her football career playing for Blackpool Girls.

And Lucy, from Garstang, says not being able to play and being cooped up at home during the Covid-19 pandemic is challenging for many.

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Lucy has been boosting her mental health with a home fitness pack and using a home gym in her grandmother’s garage.

She says: “I’ve loved football since I was about eight, when I started going training with my brother before getting into refereeing much later.

“I initially dealt with a lot of people judging me because I was a girl, but as soon as they saw me play everyone wanted me on their team. Soon I was playing for Blackpool Girls, after finally seeing a girls’ team set up at the club my brother played for and doing really well in our first season.”

But Lucy says in her early teens she didn’t want to socialise and started closing herself off from friends and finding school difficult.

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She says: “I now look back and realise this was properly the start of my undiagnosed depression, and football and work was my release.”

Illness meant she could not play for six months.

She says: “At this time, I felt really confused but mental health was something I knew little about and no adult ever even asked me about how I was.”

Lucy was diagnosed with depression at 18 and took anti-depressants but she suffered two bouts and even attempted suicide. But she has survived.

She says: “I believe everything happens for a reason and I felt like depression happened to me for a second time because I never really came to terms with it initially. I was ashamed of taking tablets and the whole stigma of being weak because I had a mental illness of depression.

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“I think as a service, mental health understanding has developed a great deal.

”It’s all made me more determined to speak about my experiences and help others. I think one of the main things I took away was that although it’s not a visible injury, mental illness is often worse as people can’t see it and it not a quick healer.

“I’d like to think because of everything I’ve been through, I’ve become more understanding about other people and I definitely think I’ve become a stronger person having gone through all this. I’m happy to say I’ve being doing really well since and want to help as many other people as possible in the future. I work part time for Royal Mail as a post lady and run a six aside football league in Garstang and Longridge and hoping to expand to others area soon. During this time in lockdown when football hasn’t been on I have being regularly going to my home gym and exercising outside to keep fit as well as doing my postal round on foot.

“I love football so that’s played a big part in keeping my mental health well has to has physical exercise which I do regularly too.

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“We all have days we don’t feel great but I find going to the gym or having a run can make the world of difference.

“My advice to people during these times is stay connected with people you love and do physical activity when you can it can even be inside home workouts or a long walk.”