Hibs’ midfielder Scott Allan has urged anyone who is struggling with mental health issues to speak to someone after he revealed that he has been impacted by a suicide attempt from someone close to him.
Allan, who suffers from Type 1 Diabetes, returned to training at the start of December after being sidelined since August with an unspecified health problem and he now hopes that there is a light at the end of the tunnel after almost a year of coronavirus restrictions.
Speaking to United to Prevent Suicide, Allan said: “I’m feeling positive with myself just now.
“It’s obviously been a hard few months but I’m delighted to be back playing football and that’s my safe haven just now.
“I think I’ve coped the same as a lot the general population. Ups and downs, but just hoping there’s light at the end of the tunnel in 2021.
“I’ve been impacted by a potential suicide, which didn’t happen, by someone close to me, but he managed to speak to people at the right time and manged to turn his fortunes around and is now in a much better place so I’ve seen first-hand how it can affect people.
“I think talking to anybody who is close to you or in a trusted position would help, not just team-mates. Sometimes it can be the person you least expect that can be the person to help you.
“Every person is different, there’s a lot of scrutiny on football players whether you have a good game or a bad game so there is times when you’ll see a comment on a social media platform that could affect you.
“As players, only you know how that can affect you personally but for me, as a player, I’ve been through quite a lot in terms of online abuse and I’ve managed to come through the other side all good, but some people aren’t as fortunate as myself and it can really affect them.
“I think mental health in general can affect any person and sometimes you just won’t notice the problems that other people are going through and that’s why people want to talk about it or if they don’t want to speak, they need to speak to someone about who can maybe help them and just be that person that can change their life for them.
“Speak to someone, if it’s a friend, family member, colleague or anyone because that just might be the person that can help you through.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
