I struggled with my mental health but now have the tools if I have a bad day at Newcastle United


Dan Burn has bravely opened up about his mental health battle after the Newcastle United defender found the tools to manage it a 'lot better'.

Burn had just made his Premier League debut for Fulham, at the age of 21, when the Geordie went through a 'bad patch' in his own words. However, the centre-back, understandably, 'did not want to admit that he was struggling' in what was a different era in the game at the time.

"In my head, it was a sort of weakness," he told Sky Sports in an interview to mark world mental health day. "As I came up, it was like, 'Just man up and get on with it'. That's changed now. I don't feel we speak like that anymore but, at the time, that was always in my head.

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"It was probably a combination of a lot of things - football, things that were happening with my family - but I have to say that Fulham were good. I went and spoke to them and said I was struggling. They helped me out and set me up with a counsellor.

"I know it's hard at the moment to get time with counsellors and it's not something that one thing is going to fix everyone. There's lots of different ways you can help your mental health, but I felt that helped me and gave me the tools to know that if I'm having a bad day now, I can use them and a bad day doesn't become a bad week or a bad month. I can manage it a lot better now."

Samaritans can be contacted in the UK on freephone 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org. You can get in touch with Mind by calling 0300 123 3393 or visiting mind.org.uk.