Case Study: Perspective of Brian Tunney on what helped him improved his mental health and wellbeing

My name is Brian Tunney and I have lived in Dagenham for 30 years.  I was an alcoholic for several years, I tried everything to keep off the drink including a detox, but nothing worked, until January 2017 I woke up one morning and realised that there is more to life than a drink, so I decide to change my life around.

The support I received from drug and alcohol services was excellent and in June 2017, I was invited to a meeting and through this I became involved in the recovery programmes.  I took part in a cricket coaching training which was delivered by Essex Cricket.  The thing that attracted me to cricket was the fact I would not think about drinking and I would be out enjoying myself and socializing.

I have continued to be involved in cricked and taken part in further training with Essex, which as enabled me to support Essex to deliver cricket in the community.  As the lock down eased from the covid, I am supporting Essex to deliver cricket to young people and people with disabilities, which has been received very positively. 

This has helped them to come together and take part following the social distancing practice, which has also improved their mental health and wellbeing.  

During the lockdown, I had posted a video which showed how people can take part in activities to keep them self-active.

Notes:

See like for the video and copy into Google Chrome

https://twitter.com/essexccb/status/1251833746514378757?s=12