10 minute read
Trainer helpline
Racehorse trainers need to be horse men and women, marketing and PR managers, diplomats, leaders, business people; they need to have a good understanding of topics ranging from veterinary science to accounting principals and horseracing legislation. The job requires their attention 24/7 and can take a massive toll on mental health.
The UK’s Racehorse Trainers Benevolent Fund-financed Trainers Support Network is a pro-active initiative aimed to give trainers an outlet through which they can talk confidentially to a friendly, understanding and knowledgeable person. James Thomas finds out more about the new organisation
TRAINING RACEHORSES can be a uniquely stressful business. It is less of a job and more of a lifestyle. Trainers not only have responsibility for conditioning the equine athletes under their care, but are dealing with myriad other factors besides.
There are the finances associated with running their own businesses, staff management, travel and the buying and selling of bloodstock, to mention but a few. Moreover, their performance takes place squarely in the public eye. Even the best trainers lose more often than they win.
There are stresses and strains, no matter the size of the yard. While trainers may be dedicated to keeping their string sound of wind and limb, for some it is all too easy to forget about keeping themselves sound of body and mind as well.
Fortunately things are beginning to change, and for the better. Mental wellbeing has become a key theme of the conversation around occupational health, and for those in the training profession, dedicated help is at hand.
The Racehorse Trainers Benevolent Fund (RTBF), the charitable arm of the National Trainers Federation (NTF), launched the Trainer Support Network on a six-month pilot in 2023.
In simple terms, the aim was to establish a network of people who are not only trusted and recognisable in the training community, but who are empathetic and knowledgeable on the subject of mental health as well.
Having highlighted the demand through the pilot scheme, the Trainer Support Network has already expanded to comprise a four-strong team of well-known industry names, who are available for trainers to share the challenges and burdens they are facing.
Having been established through funding from the RTBF, the scheme has gone on to secure the backing of the Sir Peter O’Sullevan Charitable Trust, which will enable its growth over the coming years.
“Mental health has been a growing topic of conversation in the British horseracing industry over the years, so when I was still working full-time for the NTF I was looking at ways we could help trainers,” says Rupert Arnold, who stepped down as the NTF chief executive at the end of 2021 and is now the chair of the RTBF.
“I think it’s fair to say that the Professional Jockeys Association led the way on this in the sport. They have been brilliant at encouraging jockeys to talk about their problems and I think they, and the jockeys themselves, should get a lot of credit for starting that and being willing to open up the talk around it.
“That has meant that other people realised that it’s a subject that they can talk about as well.”
Findings from a range of research were taken into consideration before a plan was put in place. These included Simone Sear’s dissertation Occupational Stressors for Racehorse Trainers in Great Britain and their Impact on Health and Wellbeing, and work undertaken by Dan Martin at the Liverpool John Moores University.
While the likes of the PJA and Racing Welfare already provide support for members of the racing community, Arnold says the RTBF wanted to take a slightly different approach, with its outreach model meaning boots on the ground in places trainers go about their day-to-day duties.
THIS APPROACH was taken with the aim of bringing an avenue of care directly into trainers’ workspace, rather than waiting for trainers to reach out, which may be viewed as too great a hurdle for some.
“My observation while I was at the NTF was that the type of support being put in place was really based on providing support services or tools that depended on the person in need making that first step to reach out for help,” says Arnold. “It seemed to me that whether someone got help was totally reliant on the person themselves. As we know, there’s a view that there is a stigma around mental health that makes people reluctant to take that first step.
“That reaches its most tragic consequences when people have taken their own lives without having reached out, so I was thinking how can we take a different approach, where we can get to people before things become a crisis.
“The idea was to have people, the right people, going to the right places where trainers live and work and just starting that conversation. So instead of asking the trainer to make that first step, it’s our people who initiate the conversation.”
Given the nature of the task, team members must meet certain standards and criteria.
“When we started this, one of the questions was: who is going to be out there doing this? Who is going to be approaching the trainers? We needed people who know what they’re doing, people who are recognised in the sport and people who are trusted,” Arnold continues.
“The trustees of the Benevolent Fund decided that as policy, we should only have people on the team who had a mental health qualification, even at a basic level.
“That is now a requirement of being on the team, but fundamentally the most important aspect is being the right type of person.
“It’s a person who understands the training business and community; somebody who is empathetic and a good listener, as well as discreet, as they have to keep confidentiality.”
Michael Caulfield, not only among Britain’s most respected sports psychologists but also a former PJA chief executive, and David Arbuthnot, who gained counselling qualifications
after he retired from training, were approached to get the pilot off the ground.
They remain on duty and have since been joined by Jo Foster and Chris Wall. Arnold also highlights the contribution of RTBF trustee Harry Dunlop, who has been a key driver of progress.
“Harry Dunlop has been a really important part in promoting the service and getting momentum behind it,” says Arnold.
“The origin of that was that when Harry finished training, he and I were talking about various things the NTF was doing and we talked about mental health, and it just happened a couple of trainers had contacted him to talk about things and off-loaded a bit.
“He was very struck that these trainers didn’t feel there was anything out there to help them. He really made it his mission to get behind this programme, so he’s been a very important part of the development of the service.”
Research into Irish racehorse trainers conducted by King et al and published in the Journal of Equine Veterinary Science highlighted that: “A prevalence of symptoms associated with common mental disorders was identified.
“Specifically, depression (41 per cent), adverse alcohol use (38 per cent), psychological distress (26 per cent), and generalised anxiety (18 per cent).
“Career dissatisfaction, financial difficulties, and lower levels of social support increased the likelihood of meeting the criteria for depression, psychological distress and generalised anxiety.”
WHILE THERE HAVE BEEN instances of the Trainer Support Network being able to facilitate specific counselling or psychological support, the outreach programme has not unearthed vast numbers of acute cases. Typically their interactions are more informal and less about medical intervention. Often a problem shared is a problem halved.
“Typically it’s a case of trainers having conversations with members of our team, either at the racecourse or sometimes in the training communities or the sales,” says Arnold.
“It’s generally a case of having that informal conversation, having a chat about the sorts of things a trainer is having trouble with, what’s praying on their mind, and sharing the problem.
"At its most fundamental level this is about having the right people who are good listeners taking the time to listen to trainers.
“It’s not necessarily a case of medicalised interventions. It’s much more a case of listening, taking on board the troubles a particular trainer is having. Talking about it, maybe getting to the step where a few ideas can be shared about the ways a trainer can look at or deal with a problem.
“We know there are common problems that trainers have to deal with, there are financial and staffing issues, and sometimes relationships with owners can become quite stressful.
“There’s the general unrelenting nature of the job. It’s all-consuming because you have to deal with horses, staff, owners, finances, you’re your own marketing director, everything that you have to deal with. It’s 24/7.”
Any new initiative inevitably needs time to gain traction and the Trainer Support Network is no different, particularly with the demographic of the training community meaning there is still something of a “stiff upper lip” culture.
Although Arnold concedes there were initial reservations from some quarters, thankfully the training community is increasingly engaging with the project.
“I think, while there were people who really welcomed what we were doing, there were others whose initial reaction was slightly amused or benign scepticism,” he says. “‘What are you doing? It might seem like it, but we’re not all crazy!’ That was the approach from some.
“But I think that just reflected that culture, the reluctance and wanting to play down the serious mental stresses and challenges that trainers face. Wanting to be brave and to tough it out, basically.
“We started this nearly a year ago but in that time there has definitely been a transformation in the way people see the programme, to the point that I would now say there is universal recognition and understanding that what we’re doing is important and necessary.”
It is fair to say that the industry’s wider response to the mental health of its workforce tends to be reactive rather than strategic. However, mental health awareness is a journey not a destination, and with programmes such as the Trainer Support Network rating an important first step, there is hope that racing is on the right road.
There are plans in place to expand the Trainer Support Network, primarily with additional team members providing greater geographical coverage. But, Arnold says, at its core its aim of providing face-to-face assistance will remain constant as the team strives to deliver help where it is needed most.
“It’s started well and has a good footing and now we need to build on it,” he says. “I don’t think we have any ambition for it to be a very big institutionalised service. We’re trying to keep it low-key and informal and very much at the grass root level.”
