Understanding mental health struggles as a woman footballer
Recognising symptoms and seeking help
The negative thoughts persisted until she could no longer tolerate it.
“When I returned to training in 2021, I was still not feeling like myself. I had gained so much weight and my teammates made fun of me. I broke down again, I had migraines and sleepless nights, and accepted that this was a mental breakdown. I accepted it and then decided to seek help,” said Faraday who chose to leave social media.
Former Ghana defender Anthony Baffoe, the founder of the Professional Footballers Association of Ghana (PFAG), reached out to her and insisted that she should open up to team authorities about her struggles.
Faraday, who signed for Ghana Women’s Premier League side Police Ladies in October 2021, approached the team counsellor for help.
It turned out to be the right decision and saw encouraging changes after just a month of therapy.
“I didn’t know the symptoms of depression at the time,” she admitted. “I remember having migraines, unexplained dizziness and decided to Google my symptoms. This fear led me to demand MRI scans and full body check-ups to clear my doubts although my therapist advised it was nothing.”
As she waited for the test results, dark thoughts crept into her mind. What if she was diagnosed with a terminal illness?
The results came back negative, and Faraday continued talking to her therapist until her mental state improved.
“I feel better compared to before. I get anxious sometimes, but I feel it is normal,” she said.
Following her own challenging experience, Faraday is commited to help other women footballers facing mental health issues through her spoken word pieces.
She is about to release an EP called “Bayor” featuring women footballers from across Africa talking about the daily struggles they face in the sport they have loved since childhood.
As well as continuing her own football career, Faraday – via her ‘Echoes from Faraday’ collective – seeks to encourage girls to take up football through artistic endeavours as well as visits to football academies.
At the end of September, she and Liverpool FC international Academy coach Steven Appleton went to the newly-established Okyeman Girls Football Academy in Apedwa.
And, as she says on her website, her goal is to “create an all-inclusive artistic community, to support the mental health of women footballers in Africa”.
