International Shinty legend, BBC Radio Scotland presenter and acclaimed musician Gary Innes was 16 years old when one of his friends took their own life. At school it wasn’t talked about, it was moved silently to the side. Over the next 20 years a further 5 of his Lochaber Shinty Club teammates would do the same thing. This horror shook not just the world of shinty, but the whole of Lochaber. It left Gary feeling frightened about what would happen next.

Today Gary is trying to talk as much as possible about his teammates and our mental health, about remembering it is ok not to be ok, that there is no shame, no stigma and there should be no silence.

Mikeysline and The Camanachd Association have started working together to raise awareness of mental health issues, and in this episode Dan Holland speaks to Gary about his six teammates and what he feels the world of Shinty should be doing to help further support players and their families.

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Gary Innes

Camanachd Association

This episode of Speaking of Suicide was sponsored by HSBC UK and is produced by Adventurous Audio the podcast platform is supported by D&D Paving Ltd.