Cricket Australia looking to hire a mental health professional
Cricket Australia, the premier cricketing body in the country which has been severely downsized due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, has recently opened a new position titled 'Mental Health and Wellbeing Lead'.
Over the past months, several Australian cricketers have publicly laid out their struggles with mental health-related dilemmas and have sought temporary withdrawals from cricket as a result. These players include the likes of Glenn Maxwell, Kate Hall, Nic Maddinson, and Will Pucovski.
"The new Mental Health and Wellbeing Lead will give a greater focus on mental health at Cricket Australia, giving us an individual resource dedicated to this area. The role will also provide broader case management support for CA contracted players," Drew Ginn, High-Performance Chief at Cricket Australia said.
Cricket Australia's Mental Health Lead will work together with sports psychologists
Drew Ginn also spoke about how the Mental Health Lead will provide further assistance to Michael Lloyd and Peter Clarke, the sports psychologists for Australia's men and women sides respectively:
"It will provide further reinforcement to our current psychologists working with our teams. To have a dedicated leader in a national role and having them focus on a national strategy, policy, future partnerships, critical case management and support for players and states is a positive step forward for the sport.
It's crucial for us to provide the right support and environment for our players, coaches and staff, and this builds on fantastic work being done by Michael Lloyd and Peter Clarke."
Cricket Australia has undergone massive downsizing in wake of the financial issues caused by the virus outbreak. It is understood that a total of 200 employees were terminated between April and June and the board's former Chief Executive, Kevin Roberts, also had to depart the cricketing body.
With the hiring of such a professional, Cricket Australia are expecting the Mental Health Lead to also "support "Australian cricket health professionals in case management", as the description of the position states.