#13: Retiring from professional rugby and reframing mental health with Charlie Beech

Charlie Beech is a former professional rugby player with a career spanning 15 years including stints at Northampton Saints, London Wasps, Bath, Yorkshire Carniegie, Coventry and Doncaster.

Having retired from the professional game in 2019 he still plays part time for Hull alongside running his own company Front Row Support - specialising in Business to Business development, sales and training. The culture at his company has been built on his 15 years experience of playing professional sport focusing on straight forward, results oriented, business support.

Charlie has been quite outspoken and honest about the some of the challenges he has faced transitioning from playing professional rugby and has written articles offering advice to those going through a similar situation. He has also recently announced a new challenge to run a marathon next year in memory of an inspirational old friend Matt ‘Milton’ King who passed away earlier this year.

In this conversation we talk about some of the challenges Charlie faced with retiring from professional rugby and how important it is to address the mental health of professional players just as it is to address their physical health. He talks openly about his experience of mental health and how he found the benefit of sharing his experiences in a group therapy setting and also what it was like playing professional rugby for all that time without the space to feel like he could open up to anyone about his challenges.

An inspiring and heart felt discussion with a very warm and humble guy who is now out to help others who have maybe been through their own challenges and life transitions with his new business. A big thank you to Charlie, you can find out more about his journey and connect with him on LinkedIn here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlie-beech-frontrow/

Finally, The Post Rugby Podcast would like to invite you to our Free Facebook Group - The Post Rugby Community to connect with other rugby players (current and retired) and like minded people to continue your journey to a happier and healthier life post rugby.

The time for raising awareness for improved physical and mental health in the game of rugby is over and the time for taking action is here. I hope you found some inspiration listening to the podcast today and are encouraged to take action by trying some of the things the guest talks about. See you next time :)