Last week was mental health awareness week, and this week, the club became the first in Scotland to offer supporters access to a mental health app.

It’s definitely something that’s spoken about now in the dressing room, much more than it ever was in the past.

It’s great that high profile players are coming out and speaking about it because it gives others a platform to talk about their situation too.

I saw a video the other day of a guy I used to go to college with before I ended up coming a professional footballer. He was a goalkeeper and we played Gaelic football together.

He went through a very tough time after his father passed away and it took a while before he found the strength within himself to go and speak about it. He phoned a hotline and thankfully, with professional help, he is now coming out the other side and has a positive mindset. He got married and is back playing football again.

Stories like that are uplifting. It’s good to see someone getting help when they need it and working through their problems.

I believe Northern Ireland is quite high up there in terms of the numbers of people who have mental health issues and end up taking their own life.

As a country and a community, they are trying to publicise the help available for people as much as they can.

I saw that Keith Gillespie did an interview about it as well. High profiles names like him are coming to the forefront to try and persuade as many people as possible to seek support.

Like at Aberdeen, there are a lot of the clubs back home doing a lot of good work to raise awareness too.

More and more, people are playing their part and trying to help as much as they can.

It’s encouraging people are coming out and speaking about it because there’s no doubt that bringing the issue into the open will help others.

Being a professional footballer is a great job. I think it’s the best job in the world. We realise just how lucky we are to do something that we love every day. But at some point your career is over.

I have heard many players speaking about how hard that is. They say you don’t realise how quickly your career goes.

All of a sudden it just stops.

You wake up one morning and you have no football any more.

You are then having to think about what you are going to do for the rest of your life.

In a way, what we are going through now, lockdown and this crisis, is probably a test for a lot of players.

Unless you’ve been out with a long term injury, you don’t really know what it’s like not to go into training every day, to get out on the pitch, out in the open, and play the game.

The times we are living in now will be a test mentally for footballers, as it will be a test for everyone.

Hopefully people will come out of the situation stronger, but I’m sure almost everyone will have struggled with some kind of anxiety or worry at some point during the lockdown.

I understand that AFC has now spoken to almost 10,000 supporters these past few months to check how they are. The other players and myself, the manager, the chairman, directors and staff have all taken part. Hopefully this will have helped in a small way.

If you are having a bad time of it, the main piece of advice is to go and speak to someone, whether it be a close friend, family member or, if you are not comfortable speaking to someone you know, pick up the phone and speak to a professional.

It could make a massive difference.

As they say, “it’s ok not to be ok.”

Niall was speaking to the Red Matchday Editor.