WARRNAMBOOL AFL export Wayne Schwass is urging the community to start a daily conversation about mental health.
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His advice comes after North Melbourne player Majak Daw was injured in a serious incident on Melbourne’s Balte Bridge on Monday night.
“As upsetting and confronting as the situation in relation to Majak is, that same situation, it is estimated, plays out 174 times every day in Australia,” he said.
“And from that there is eight people that have tragically managed to take their life.”
“So there’s 173 other families and communities right now who are coming to terms with and dealing with a very similar situation to Majak’s family.”
Mr Schwass, 49, was born in New Zealand but moved to Warrnambool when he was 10 years old and excelled as a junior footballer before being recruited by the Kangaroos.
He played in their 1996 premiership before joining the Sydney Swans, playing a combined 282 games.
A dozen years ago Mr Schwass announced that he had suffered from depression during hisAFL career.
The director of mental health program Puka Up, he is now urging the football community to view this incident as a timely reminder that mental health conversations need to be ‘normalised’.
“Unfortunately rightly or wrongly a tragic situation like the one that occurred in the last 24 hours brings into sharp focus the urgency and importance of us needing to have these conversations every day,” he said.
“This needs to be a timely wake up call that we need to prioritise mental health within our community and I think there’s no better vehicle in our country than the popularity of sport to be able to do that.”
Mr Schwass said all community members would need to become part of the “uncomfortable conversation”.
“There are so many people in our families, our friends, our colleagues in all walks of life who are privately dealing with these issues and the vast majority are doing it privately or silently because they worry about what people are going to say or think of them,” he said.
“If we don’t begin to normalise mental health and wellbeing and we’re not prepared to have the uncomfortable conversation around suicide, which is the elephant in the room, then we’re not creating the environments and the opportunities for those people living with those conditions to feel supported and respected so they can get the appropriate help they need and deserve.”
“It’s easy to process a broken leg, asthma, or if someone has breast cancer or diabetes or bowel cancer,” he said.
“We all universally acknowledge or respect that it’s serious but just because we cant see an illness does not mean it is not a legitimate, chronic , potentially life-threatening condition.”
People experiencing mental health issues can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Puka Up at www.pukaup.com