A program designed to support the mental health and wellbeing of the Broken Hill sporting community is set to expand into new states and clubs this year.
How's Ya Mate? is an initiative that was launched by Broken Hill Lifeline Country to Coast in 2016 in partnership with AFL Broken Hill.
The project has come a long way; starting with a few pop-up stalls at games to now providing training and counselling to players and members and breaking down the stigmas surrounding mental health in young men.
All four AFL clubs based in Broken Hill were quick to jump on board with the program.
Proven success
Central Football Club Auskick coordinator Paegan Hall said the training provided through How's Ya Mate?, including suicide prevention, made it a "no-brainer" for them to get involved.
"We personally as a club have lost a couple of our players and members through suicide, so it was a big issue for us that we were happy to try and help in any way that we could."
Mrs Hall also recalled professional AFL players coming to Broken Hill and talking to the clubs about their own mental health experiences as a particular highlight for both their men's and women's teams.
"We had Abby Holmes come and talk at Central, but we also went to the breakfast and they had Brock McLean, who has an incredible mental health story to tell," she said.
"[Male players] can sometimes be a bit harder to open up and I think hearing experiences from these people who do play AFL helps to show anybody can suffer from mental illness."
Expanding to new horizons
After years of success at a local level, Lifeline Broken Hill Country to Coast is seeking to expand to new horizons over the next 12 months.
Last week, the organisation was awarded around $290,000 by the state government, which chief executive Scott Hammond said was wonderful news to kickstart the year.
"In the last 12 months, we've seen the program continue to get greater support throughout our AFL community," Mr Hammond said.
"Having nearly $300,000 allows us to expand that into other areas across our footprint, plus also look at other sports that may be interested in taking the program on."
Mr Hammond said he hoped to get How's Ya Mate? into around 10 additional sporting clubs across regional NSW, including Menindee, along with clubs around Clare in South Australia and Mildura in Victoria over the next 12 months.
He said the funds would also allow them to employ an additional counsellor to work with the present and new clubs on board.
"[A new counsellor] will be able to engage with them and provide the necessary support so they can continue to build better outcomes and improve young people's wellbeing in sport," Mr Hammond said.
Mrs Hall said after seeing the success of the program in Broken Hill, she was looking forward to seeing other regional clubs reap the same benefits.
"If they can roll this out to every football club in Australia, I think it's only going to benefit people, and the further it goes the better the outcomes will be."
