Health advice for players just what the doctor ordered
TOON PLANNING PAYS OFF
NEWCASTLE club doctor Paul Catterson feels United will emerge even stronger from the Covid-19 crisis.
The emergency situation at Benton resulted in the club working remotely with players to keep them ticking over during lockdown - but other lines of communication also came into play.
Dr Catterson believes some of the plans put in place in the last few weeks will aid the club moving forward, not least the increased awareness on the mental health aspect of the squad’s wellbeing.
Dr Catterson told the Chronicle: “Everybody gets caught up in the physical side of it but the mental health is important too.
“Mental health has a bearing on the physical side too.
“We have checked in remotely with the players over the last eight weeks with the players.
“We have done things on the nutrition and cooking side too.
“We had a mental health week and had two members of staff who were available to chat in a confidential nature. We signposted people to apps, Headspace for example of the government website Every Mind Matters.
“We take mental health very seriously at Newcastle anyway and have a relationship with a local company Talk Works.”
United players returned to training at Benton last week, where they worked in small groups in phase one of Project Restart.
They hope to progress to phase two – the contact side of training – which will follow ahead of the Premier League’s eagerly -anticipated return, possibly next month.
Dr Catterson, though, has already had conversations with players about their mindset.
He added: “We had to keep on top of all that but even before our most recent session two days ago on the app, on the question section on Covid-19 the next question was about mental health. “We asked if they needed extra help.
“They may not want to divulge at that moment but just them knowing we are there as an ear to listen to is important.”
Once the season is up and running again and moving into the 2020/21 campaign, the club hope United players will use the wellestablished pathways in place for mental health issues.
The Merseyside medic said: “We are all going to have new ways of working going forward.
“We have all done so many Zoom meetings and now it is great to have interaction with people face to face.
“That is why everybody is so excited.
“There are a lot of processes now in place which will be used in seasons to come.
“None of the planning has gone to waste.
“In the future, we can hopefully be just as resilient if anything happens again.”
Dr Catterson was the first Premier League medic to ban handshakes between players before the lockdown came into effect.
However, he admits nobody could have predicted what would follow as the season was suspended.
He went on: “I don’t think that you could envisage getting to this point now.
“When we were trying to be proactive at the earliest possible stage I knew this was not going to be getting any better, put it that way.
“We had to make sure we were ahead of the game and gave reassurance to the players and the staff.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I ever feel it would end up like this.
“In saying that, we tried to take the first steps early.
“With self-management, we were able to get on with it and do the things we should have done at an early time.”
Everybody gets caught up in the physical side of it but the mental health is important too