Reach out to depression sufferers, urges rugby star Corkery
Ex-Ireland and Munster rugby star David Corkery has urged the public to reach out to anyone suffering from depression — after revealing a “chance encounter†effectively saved his own life.
Irish Examiner ReporterThe 28-times capped Cork- born international made the call for greater mental health awareness during an extensive interview on RTÉ Radio yesterday.
Speaking on The John Murray Show, Corkery who was prominent in Irish rugby in the 1990s, said after retirement and the death of his father by suicide he fell into a “very deep, dark hole†that crippled him emotionally.
The situation at one point led to the one-time Munster star suddenly finding himself unemployed as the sport moved from the amateur to professional era. He was on the dole and believing he had “no reason to liveâ€.
However, after a chance encounter with a former Cork Constitution teammate — who saw the signs and reached out to him despite being someone “I didn’t know that well†— Corkery turned his life around.
Corkery, who had a “tough†public exterior and often played with broken fingers, said the experience has shown him people need to act when they know something is wrong, before it is too late.
“Looking back now I would’ve suffered from depression as a player in my heyday,†the ex-Ireland international explained. “When it [his career] ended when I was 27, it was like somebody switching the light off overnight. I didn’t want to be burdening people afterwards, but it was a very lonely place to be, the drop-off was huge. It was like walking off a cliff.
“It got to the stage where I felt I was very worthless on this planet. I had no self-esteem, I felt everything I did was wrong and it was a very dark hole that got deeper and deeper, and deeper. I was unemployed about nine months. I could see my father in myself because my girls [twin eight-year-olds] were coming in to me in the morning seeing me just lying in bed and it was demoralising.
“I saw [psychology] as a worthless adventure, because I saw the way it had worked with him. It turned him into a zombie. I had this big image of a hard-teak rugby player, so I tried to beat it myself, but the demons just got worse.
“But then I met a colleague of mine at Cork Con, Hugh O’Donovan. I was just talking to him and he asked me how I was and could see in my eyes, me welling-up. It was a cry for help.â€
He said the short, chance conversation ended and both men went on to watch the match.
However, a couple of weeks later, Mr O’Donovan — who has trained as a psychologist and lectures in UCC — contacted Corkery “out of the blueâ€.
“Our 10 minute-chat turned into a three-hour chat.
“For someone like Hugh, who I didn’t know that well, to pick up a phone and think of Dave Corkery as someone who needed help, because he could see the signs . . . It made me feel important, that someone actually cared about me.
“It was huge, and certainly the phone call changed my life.â€
Over the coming months, Corkery said he slowly recovered to the extent that he is now working in a “dream†job with a sports medicine firm.
Stressing the need for anyone concerned about someone to reach out to them as they may not be able to do so themselves, Corkery said no one wants to knock on a door and say: “I let him down, I should’ve done more.â€
“This is a message to the people on the outside [of the dark hole]. Someone picking up the phone literally changed my life.â€
The full 30-minute interview with David Corkery on The John Murray Show can be found at www.rte.ie.
l24/7 1Life suicide prevention helpline: 1800-247-100.
© Irish Examiner Ltd. All rights reserved
Â
More in this section
- New code could add €50k onto cost of self-builds
- Frustration as ambulances forced to queue for hours outside AE
- Kerry battles to save its 58 rural post offices
- Killarney trad festival in full swing
- Horses killed during Storm Darwin
- Dog survives accident to be re-united with owners
- Watchdog urged to apologise to gardaà cleared of charges
- 1,100 people sign petition opposing wind farm plans
- Still no creche checks in some locations
- Repossession bid ‘sprung upon’ young family
- Surfer rescued off Kerry coast
- Aer Lingus unions considering joint campaign
- Gardaà appeal for witnesses to Dublin city bank robbery
- Staff praised after homeless man rescued from waste compactor
- Limerick teenager killed cutting trees
- Killing time with the last of the Beats
- A place to celebrate all things cute and cuddly
- Getting to the bottom of the sinkhole phenomenon
- O Emperor are marching to their own drum
- Mum took girl to drink parties to be raped
Gardaà believe a child was brought by her mother to “drinking parties” where she was systematically raped over the course of five years.
- Neil Prendeville interview: ‘I’m sad I couldn’t say goodbye to the listeners’
TO HIS listeners, it was just like any other day — his show featuring the usual mix of breaking news, lively debate and outspoken comment.
- Prendeville leaves 96FM to join rival station
Controversial broadcaster Neil Prendeville is leaving 96FM, after a 25-year career with the country’s largest local radio station, to join its main rival, Cork’s RedFM.
- Morning Report: The day’s lead stories
Good morning. Here’s a look at the top stories you need to know, in the Irish Examiner’s Morning Report.
- Ennis couple on trial over alleged six-year harassment of neighbours
A married couple have gone on trial for the harassment of their neighbours over a six-year period.
- 31-inch Sligo cow to enter record books as world’s smallest
A tiny Irish cow is set to enter the record books as the smallest in the world. Ella, a Dexter cow from Sligo, stands at 31 inches — two inches shorter than the previous record holder, Swallow, from England.
- Freak flood forces woman to quit home
A woman has been forced to abandon her family home after freak flooding surrounded it by “an ocean of water”.
- Last respects paid to man struck by telephone pole
A father of three who was killed when he was struck by a telephone pole was above all “a good man”, his first cousin told those attending his Requiem Mass.
- Man who dropped his child during Ballymun road rage incident gets jail
A man who dropped his child to fight a taxi driver in a road rage attack in Dublin has been jailed.
- Draft report requires everyone to have standard health insurance
People who do not buy basic health insurance in the future could have the cost taken from their wages or benefits.
- NEWS
- Justice Department faces review over dossier
An internal review has been ordered at the Department of Justice amid mounting pressure on Justice Minister Alan Shatter to address opposition claims that he did nothing about Garda malpractice allegations for two years.
- HSE to withdraw funding from anti-D scandal support group
The future of a support group for women given contaminated blood products by the State is in serious doubt following indications that the HSE is to pull its funding.
- WORLD
- 10-year-old joyrides second car in fortnight
A 10-year-old Norwegian boy who took his parents’ car for a joyride last week, claiming he was a dwarf who forgot his driver’s license, has hit the road again.
- Pussy Riot savage Putin in video showed in Sochi
Russian punk group Pussy Riot showed a new video, filmed in the centre of Winter Olympics host Sochi, savaging President Putin over the hosting of the Games and the rights climate in Russia.
- BUSINESS
- ‘Too soon’ for commitment on tax reductions
It is far to soon for the Government to make a commitment on tax cuts in next October’s budget because of the ongoing uncertainty over growth figures, a troika source has said.
- Revenue targets household charge
There is a discrepancy of some 463,000 people between those that have paid the local property tax and the household charge, according to the chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, Josephine Feehily.
- LIFESTYLE
- Killing time with the last of the Beats
William Burroughs’ centenary occurs this month. The West Cork-based photographer John Minihan recalls meeting the controversial author in London
- Getting to the bottom of the sinkhole phenomenon
Sinkholes have been appearing in Ireland and the UK with increasing regularity in recent months. What’s causing them, asks John Hearne
- GSOC controversy highlights the joke of a democratic Ireland
The notion that we live in a true democracy is a joke, judging by the response by Government, gardaÃ, and parts of the media to suspected bug at GSOC offices, says Michael Clifford
- Mum took girl to drink parties to be raped
Gardaà believe a child was brought by her mother to “drinking parties” where she was systematically raped over the course of five years.
- Strange tale of Shatter and whistleblower
I’LL tell you something, Maurice — and this is just personal advice to you — if Shatter thinks you’re screwing him, you’re finished.” So went a line read into the record of the Dáil last Wednesday by Fianna Fáil leader, Micheál Martin.
- West Cork town becomes a fluoride-free first for Ireland
A West Cork town has been designated Ireland’s first fluoride-free town, fuelling talk that the initiative could spread nationwide.
- Michael Collins still gets Valentine’s cards… 92 years after death
Every year on this day Michael Collins’s grave in Glasnevin is inundated with cards and flowers from admirers, writes Nuala Woulfe
- Waterford tipped as high-potential area in EU
An influential international business magazine has included Waterford among its top European cities and regions of the future in a new ranking of high-potential areas.
- Cobh’s historic Titanic pier sold
Speculation surrounds the future of Cobh’s Titanic pier — the last piece of terra firma on which stood the 123 passengers who boarded the ill-fated liner in April 1912.
- Ballysaggart seeking final replay
Ballysaggart are seeking a replay of their All-Ireland Club junior hurling final as they claim Creggan Kickhams fielded an illegal player.
- The final cut on filmmaking in Cork?
CORK is a city of storytellers. From Frank O’Connor and Seán Ó Faolain to Conal Creedon and Madeleine D’Arcy, our stories of the city and its people have amused and enthralled generations.
- 70,000 Garth Brooks fans to travel from overseas for Croker shows
He’s got friends in foreign places — eight of the 400,000 tickets for Garth Brooks’ Irish gigs were bought in Afghanistan.
Breaking stories
Lifestyle
Article source: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/rugby-league-new-zealand-star-jailed-two-years-092855121--spt.html
Reach out to depression sufferers, urges rugby star Corkery
No comments:
Post a Comment