Everyone has come to know and love Philly McMahon both on and off the Gaelic Football Pitch. Over the last number of years the Ballymun and Dublin Star has become a successful business man, owning and running both FitFood Ireland and BeDo7 Fitness.
In addition, Philly has become a very respected and outspoken figure on the subject of metal health and wellness, using his personal experiences to drive and help others on. So it’s not surprise that he has agreed to pin his flag to the new Healthy Clubs Project which aims to inspire and empower GAA clubs to support not just their own members, but also the community at large, in an effort to pursue better physical, social and mental wellbeing.
Speaking to FM104 Sport, McMahon explains his passion for mental health awareness and shared how that fits into an overall sense of wellbeing.
“In this country we do live a really negative life although we think we live really positively.” he said.
“We have about fifty thousand thoughts a day and about forty thousand of them are negative. There’s no surprise why we have such an epidemic of mental health issues in the country.”
“A lot of people might think that depression leads to negative thoughts whereas negative thoughts lead to depression. The awareness of mental health has been really out there in the media but there’s still so much – to do to the grassroots of just making sure we feel a little bit better when we wake up in the morning.”
To better inform interested new clubs about the project, the GAA will be hosting informative roadshows across the four provinces. The Healthy Club ambassadors will attend each event, while a selection of the 60 clubs currently engaged in Phase 2 will also showcase some of their exciting work and projects.
The Leinster roadshow will take place tomorrow, 11th of March in Croke Park from 10am to 2pm. For more information, visit gaa.ie/community
The Healthy Club Ambassadors, along with Philly McMahon are Kilkenny’s Michael Fennelly, Tyrone Manager Mickey Harte, and Dr. Aoife Lane.
Here’s your chance to listen to the full interview with Philly on FM104 Sport.
(interview credit: FM104 via Soundcloud)
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