NRL great and founder of The Mindset Project, Joel Thompson, visited Forbes on Wednesday to start a conversation about mental health and suicide prevention.
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The Red Bend Catholic College graduate took the Mindset Project to towns around the region to talk about his own mental health journey and get people talking about the subject.
Thompson said he wanted to take the Mindset Project to all the places in the country which meant something to him.
He encouraged people to reach out for help if they are struggling with their mental health.
Thompson said he wanted to do more than just talk at an event, hand out resources and leave, he wanted to get a conversation going.
Thompson shared his story facing mental health issues and his problems with alcohol during his playing career.
He detailed the difficulty he found in reaching out for support when he was playing in his early career in Melbourne and Canberra.
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"I went down to Melbourne, it taught me a lot about life. There were so many times that I was by myself, I was isolated," Thompson said.
"I guess a lot of things from my childhood I didn't really speak about. I was one of those kids that kept everything bottled up, you didn't really share your emotions or anything like that."
Thompson said at this stage he never heard of any other player reach out for help or to a counselor, so when he was in pain he kept it to himself.
Even after moving to play for Canberra, Thompson said this trend continued as he felt like he had to prove himself.
"I wasn't going to go and tell my team mates. I felt like I had to prove myself as a footballer. To be a footballer you felt like you had to be tough, to fight through it," he said.
Thompson said this led to him getting in trouble as he didn't really have an off switch and turned to alcohol which made things worse.
He said the club looked after him by sending to drug and alcohol counselling, but it was through his wife Amy that he first opened up and shared how he felt.
"That moment, honestly, it saved my life."
Thompson said Amy convinced him to go see a counselor and open up.
Prior to that, Thompson said he saw all of his experiences with counselors in a negative light or as a punishment.
The counselor gave him good life advice, Thompson said, which was to share his story with other people.
"I did different community stuff and it just made me get excited on my days off. It did actually help me in a big way."
Although he enjoyed doing it, Thompson said he didn't dig into his mental health enough over the years.
After seeing a psychologist and psychiatrist who diagnosed him with bipolar, Thompson said he finally owned the diagnosis for his daughters.
"It's something that I know I have to work on and stay on top of and really take care of myself because I have three beautiful daughters and a wife," Thompson said.
Along with sharing his story Thompson, along with Jessica Macartney, spoke about mental illness and some strategies to thrive as well as how people could get in touch with various mental health services.
Thompson and Macartney also started a conversation with members of the audience to start a conversation about what they feel like is needed in Forbes.
Some of the topics raised included adequate and affordable rehabilitation facilities closer to Forbes, as well as the best way to approach GPs to get the best mental health care plans.
You can speak with your GP about mental health concerns, Lifeline is always available on 13 11 14, Beyond Blue is always available on 1300 22 4636 and in an emergency always phone Triple Zero (000).
