Trevor ‘Quickshot’ Henry, famous LEC play-by-play caster, gave an in-depth interview to Tom Matthiesen via Factor.gg on his sudden 6-month disappearance last year.
Contents
- 1 Quickshot: “I spent twelve weeks in a mental health ‘high school’ (clinic) (…) I learned more about myself in those twelve weeks than I have in the 34 years of life leading up to it.”
- 2 “My hope is that people who maybe need to hear it, people who are in a similar position as I was: don’t wait until it’s too late.”
Quickshot: “I spent twelve weeks in a mental health ‘high school’ (clinic) (…) I learned more about myself in those twelve weeks than I have in the 34 years of life leading up to it.”
The South African – British caster opened up about the grind necessary to ‘make it’ in esports scene. A 40-hour work week simply isn’t a thing whether you’re new to the scene or a hardened veteran. And at some point, it will get to you after years of neglect and horrendous work-life balance.
In August 2021, that realization hit Quickshot like a hurricane. He knew he needed to take measures to protect his deteriorating mental health, professional and personal relationship with his wife.
The decision was swift. Quickshot took a months-long break from casting gigs, attended a mental health clinic for 12 weeks in Germany, where, fortunately, mental health was covered and taken seriously.
The course that I enrolled in was Monday to Friday, ten to four, group therapy sessions, one-on-one therapy sessions, resilience training, coping mechanism training… Just general education around things.
Coming out of the course, Trevor spent several extra months on his home life, which he credited for revitalizing his energy and focus to come back to work.
“My hope is that people who maybe need to hear it, people who are in a similar position as I was: don’t wait until it’s too late.”
Quickshot revealed he has always been a very driven and committed individual.
First of all, I knew I wanted to be successful in my job. It’s incredibly competitive. Once I had hit a level I was comfortable with, I wanted to train people. Then I wanted to be a manager, I wanted to hire people. Then I wanted more responsibility to push other people to unlock their goals. I did that all while maintaining the previous roles.
Rather than a straw that broke a camel’s back, Trevor compared it to 10,000 straws that stacked up on his plate. He hit a very low point in life and had to go through therapy to overcome.
Although Quickshot urges people struggling with something in their life, whether it’s career or personal, to seek a therapist as soon as possible, he also clarified that you yourself have to be the one to make yourself better, a therapist only guides and points to the right direction.
No matter how much you love your job, no matter how much you are passionate, it’s still a job. Even if you are, fortunately, successful at it
Quickshot had a habit of getting fixated on a work-related problem and spent time at home lingering on or trying to solve it. Now he has learnt to leave it for another time and not bring work home. Ultimately, he recognized there needs to be boundaries between work and home, lines that you do not cross so as to give yourself too much to work.
Trevor’s story is just one of many, many others in modern times. As someone who’s going through therapy myself, I agree wholeheartedly with Quickshot and encourage fellow readers to seek one. It is indeed a life changing experience and will benefit you for years to come.
In other LEC news, Karmine Corp is looking to acquire Astralis’ slot and Hans Sama from Liquid next season.