Patógenos de las plantas

Over the last five weeks, I have been working with a 22-year-old professional rugby league player (TC) who plays for a team competing in the Super League. I met TC at the University of Bolton, through the Athletic Development Centre (ADC). He is enrolled full-time on a Sport and Exercise Science undergraduate course and I taught him for the module ‘Sport and Exercise Psychology in Professional Practice’ in his final year at the University. Therefore, TC already knew my philosophy of practice as an applied practitioner and was aware of my experience within professional sport. He approached me to seek my support as a sport psychology practitioner as he was experiencing a number of critical moments in his career, which he felt he needed support in navigating (Nesti et al. 2012). Throughout our first session together, it was apparent that he was experiencing a number of challenges, which are outlined comprehensively in ‘Case Study Two’. Put simply, he had recently made the transition into the first team squad (Morris, Tod, & Eubank, 2017) and was finding this environment less supportive than the academy setting (Richardson, Relvas, & Littlewood, 2013). He was also showing signs of identity

foreclosure (Brewer, Van Raalte & Linder, 1993), had a poor relationship with the first team coach (Jowett & Cockerill, 2003) and was in constant competition with his identical twin brother (who also played at the same club). Given my philosophy of practice and approach as an applied practitioner, I felt very comfortable in working with TC to support him through these critical moments. Moreover, we already had a very good relationship as we had gotten to know each other over the last 6 months. Towards the end of our first session together, after TC had discussed all of these challenges and was becoming more comfortable, he disclosed to me that he thought he had experienced depression in the past. He then suggested that his current experiences were negatively impacting on his well-

69 being in a similar way now. TC was aware that this fell outside of my scope of practice, as I had explained this to him at the start of the session whilst discussing confidentiality. However, I felt the need to readdress this again, given what TC had just disclosed. TC completely understood and agreed with me that this was something that we needed to be aware of moving forwards. Nonetheless, I chose to meet with TC a second time, primarily because I didn’t feel his case was grounds for a referral at this point and I was comfortable continuing with our sessions, whilst keeping his well-being at the forefront of my mind. During our second session, it was clear (anecdotally) that TC was making some small progress in relation to the aims of the support we had agreed upon (again, see ‘Case Study Two’ for more detail here). Therefore, I was confident my support was helping TC and positively impacting his well-being to the point that a referral wasn’t required. However, in the days following our second session together, TC had received more bad news from the Head Coach regarding his place in the squad and also had to go for a scan for a potential shoulder injury he had picked up in training that week. TC and I would regularly text one another and that day his text read: ‘I’m really not in a good place at the minute mate’. After reading the text, I was immediately filled with anxiety and began questioning my decision not to refer. It was clear that these further challenges had led to a reduction in his mental well-being and I was concerned that any progression he had made with my support had now been undone. I arranged another meeting with TC to discuss this with him, but by the time we had the opportunity to meet for the third time, his circumstances had changed again! The Head Coach had been fired, TC’s scan results had not revealed an injury and the new coach had chosen to start him as prop, alongside his brother, for the game at the weekend. In our third session together, TC was nothing but positive. He was also showing signs that he had made even more progression, by demonstrating a broader perspective of his life and identity as a person, whilst also being aware that the unpredictable nature of sport could leave him out of the squad again the following week. After the game, TC text me and stated that he was happy with his own individual performance, had received positive feedback from the coach and was confident he would be starting again next week. Whilst TC is currently showing signs of progression and increases in his positive well- being and performance, I need to be mindful of the unpredictable nature of sport and the impact this might have on him moving forwards.

Arguably, the most important aspect of this experience to focus on is the decision surrounding referral. Personally, I feel I made the right decision not to refer and felt largely

70 comfortable in my decision (except when reading the text). However, this experience has highlighted to me, now that I am engaging in applied practice independently of a

professional club, that I need to be more aware of the correct referral pathways and the challenges involved with this process. It is becoming more common for Sport

Psychologists to work alongside Clinical Psychologists (Rotheram, Maynard, & Rogers, 2016) as the environment of professional sport can often cause or exacerbate existing mental health disorders (Roberts, Faull, & Tod, 2016). Statistics from professional rugby union demonstrate that the prevalence of mental health symptoms/disorders are worryingly high: 25% (distress), 28% (anxiety/depression) and 29% (sleeping disturbance)

(Gouttebarge et al., 2016) and athletes are generally at higher risk of developing mental health disorders whilst experiencing ‘performance failure’ (Rice et al., 2016) as was the case with TC. However, referral can often be met with scepticism by the athlete (Morton & Roberts, 2013) and it is also common for sport psychology practitioners to take different approaches to referral based on their approach to service delivery (performance vs well- being) (Brady & Maynard, 2010). My approach centres on the assumptions that

performance and well-being are inescapably linked, which is why I felt comfortable continuing to support TC through his current experiences. Whilst the BPS Code of Ethics and Conduct (British Psychological Society, 2009) states that Sport Psychologists are required to “refer clients to alternative sources of assistance as appropriate, facilitating the transfer and continuity of care through reasonable collaboration with other professionals” (p. 19), this still remains unclear regarding specific advice to trainee practitioners such as myself. Moving forwards, I need to utilise the experience and knowledge of my

supervisors to better understand the referral process and how my own philosophy of practice might impact on the decisions I make (Eubank, 2016). I am strongly considering enrolling on addition clinical training following successful completion of this professional doctorate.

2. Blurring Personal and Professional Boundaries