Former AFL star Wayne Schwass says he was broken and suicidal as he celebrated 1996 flag
As he donned his AFL premiership medal in 1996, Wayne Schwass was “broken, spiritually bankrupt” and suicidal. The former footy star revealed the depths of his despair at a public inquiry into Victoria’s mental health system.
VIC News
Don't miss out on the headlines from VIC News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
AFL legend Wayne Schwass has revealed he was “broken”, suicidal and “spiritually bankrupt” at the height of his footy career in stunning evidence to Victoria’s mental health royal commission.
The former North Melbourne and Sydney star detailed his decades-long battle with mental illness as the first witness to appear before public hearings in the Royal Commission into the state’s mental health system, which began today.
He told the commission that for more than 12 years, he kept a trio of mental health conditions — depression, anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder — a secret from all except four people — his wife and three professionals.
He said he was paralysed by fear that people would react badly to his diagnosis, with a “narrative” that men who cried were weak and were not to be trusted.
“I grew up with this mentality that men aren’t meant to cry … that narrative was magnified once I started to play footy,” he said.
“We were conditioned to be very strong athletes.
“In an elite sporting environment, if people see you as weak and people don’t trust you, they won’t play with you.
“I was trained to be an elite athlete, I wasn’t trained to be a well-balanced individual.”
BREAKDOWN
Schwass told the commission that he suffered a mental breakdown while stopped at traffic lights on his 20-minute drive home from footy training.
He then sat in his car outside his home for more than an hour, unable to reveal to his then fiance that he was struggling.
Referencing a picture of receiving his premiership medal in 1996, Schwass said people might have assumed he was “exuberant”.
But the three-time best-and-fairest winner said he was “broken, spiritually bankrupt” and suicidal.
This is what suicidal looks like. Fake smile, act happy, celebrating premiership success with @NMFCOfficial in 1996. Truth was, incredibly suicidal, looking for my wife in the crowd because I wanted to end my life. Only 2 people knew in a crowd of 94.5k my wife & GP #pukaup pic.twitter.com/jRfLMAYY4k
— Wayne Schwass (@WayneSchwass) December 13, 2017
Schwass founded mental health organisation, PUKA UP, after publicly revealing his battle in 2006.
Along with a string of other athletes, including Travis Cloke, Lance Franklin and Libby Trickett, Schwass has become one of the country’s highest-profile advocates for more support.
Schwass said Australia needed to do more to support those with mental health conditions — and start talking more openly about their struggle.
“We haven’t talked about it enough and we are losing more Australians than we ever have before,” he said.
“We have more people who are contemplating taking their life.
“We have a responsibility and an obligation to shine the brightest light on the biggest epidemic in our state and our country — and that is suicide.
“Because of our reluctance to talk about it, it is not changing anything.”
‘BIG BLACK DOG’
Former federal minister Andrew Robb also fronted the commission, sharing a similar story of how he kept his mental health issues a secret.
He began suffering depression as a teenager — describing it as a little black dog that later grew and loomed large.
He said for 30 years he “chased endorphins” that eased the pain, through high-pressure jobs and tips from self-help books that recommended staring at the sun and mimicking a smile.
“It got to that point, which is pretty sad when you think of some of those things,” he said.
“After a while I thought, this is not right.”
Mr Robb finally confronted his health issues in 2009, contacting friend and former Beyond Blue boss Jeff Kennett for help.
It came amid a Liberal Party crisis that saw his name floated as a possible replacement for then leader Malcolm Turnbull.
He took three months’ leave to “confront” his issues, and later returned to take on the job as Trade Minister.
Mr Robb said yesterday that he speaks publicly about depression to show people they can hold the same positions as they didbefore confronting mental illness.
“As it turned out, I had far more responsibility than I’d had in my life.”
‘MORE OF THE SAME WILL NOT BE ENOUGH’
The Royal Commission has heard that unwell Victorians have been told they are “not sick enough or not suicidal enough” for treatment.
The landmark inquiry began public hearings this morning by promising to unlock the secrets of the “broken” system, and offer hope to those suffering severe mental health conditions.
Commission chairwoman Penny Armytage said in her opening address that “together we have a challenge ahead”.
She pointed to “confronting” research that showed young people were more likely to die by suicide than a road accident, and that 14 per cent of children aged 4-17 experienced a mental health disorder in 2013-14.
She said evidence also showed that half of Victorians will experience a mental health condition over their lifetime, and that the state had seen rising rates of emergency department presentations, mental illness relating to drug and alcohol use and higher rates of eating disorders.
“Think for a moment what these numbers actually mean: when it comes to our families and loved ones, there is a one-in-two chance they had experienced a mental health condition in their lifetime,” Ms Armytage said.
“It is estimated that mental health conditions are more prevalent in our community than all cancers combined.
“A clear message emerges — doing more of the same will not be enough.”
PUBLIC RESPONSE
The commission has already spoken to more than 1600 people, and received thousands of submissions since calling for feedback on its terms of reference.
More than 90 witnesses, including AFL legend Wayne Schwass and former federal minister Andrew Robb, will front hearings over the next month.
Ms Armytage said the landmark royal commission was a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to overhaul the broken mental health system.
The commission heard that while about three per cent of Victoria’s suffered severe mental health conditions that should be treated by the state’s public health system, just over one per cent were.
“We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity ahead of us to reform the mental health system so that future generations do not experience the unnecessary and aggravated pain we have heard of time and time again,” Ms Armytage said.
“One participant put it eloquently: we don’t want to fill in the potholes, we want a new road.”
Counsel assisting Lisa Nichols said that the commission would confront the stigma of mental illness, and probe critical shortages in services.
She said that services had failed to keep up with population growth, and the increasing demand had forced up the threshold of how ill a person had to be to access services.
“You will hear that across the system there are significant workplace shortages, gaps and pressure” she said.
Ms Nichols also paid tribute to those witnesses who would front the commission to share their personal experiences.
“Optimism is the companion of courage, and it takes a measure of courage of a community, through its leaders, to say in an unvarnished way, that something is so important is not and no longer working and to commit to changing it,” she said.
VOICES OF EXPERIENCE SPEAK OUT
Britt Andrews knows all about generations of failings in Victoria’s mental health system likely to be aired during the inquiry.
But, with three sons she fears for, Ms Andrews also knows it is a matter of life and death to speak out and finally improve the system for the one in four Victorians who will be reliant on it in the future.
Public hearings began at Melbourne Town Hall this morning, with former federal minister Andrew Robb and former AFL player Wayne Schwass sharing their personal experience with mental health as the first of about 90 witnesses.
Ms Andrews, 38, is one of hundreds who have already laid the foundations of the hearing by detailing her experiences during “raw” community consultations across the state.
After two relatives in her father’s generation took their lives because they couldn’t get help during periods of psychosis, Ms Andrews also began having symptoms a decade ago and fared little better.
Despite being hospitalised and inappropriately medicated several times, it still took four years and almost losing her life twice before Ms Andrews was finally diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
“I’ve had one private psychiatrist that I saw for a period of 18 months … apart from that I have stuck with the public system and it has let me down on so many occasions,” she said.
“I am very concerned that, through no fault of their own, my sons will end up having to go through the mental health system and there is no way the current system would meet their needs.
“You feel like you are being abandoned.”
Even after diagnosis it took until four years ago — when her third son was born and almost taken during a forced period in hospital — that Ms Andrews was finally placed on medication which now offers her longer and more frequent periods of wellness.
Getting to that point was a nightmare Ms Andrews said nobody should endure.
“Inpatients need to be improved — it is like a war zone. I have had people with knives out in the courtyard, have been in lockdown in our rooms,” she said.
“All they do is put you in there, medicate you, but I’ve never had any actual psychotherapy or counselling.”
Having left Melbourne to live in Wangaratta where her family can provide the support the mental health system does not, Ms Andrews is hopeful for her future.
Now, having heard many eerily similar stories, commission chair Penny Armytage said it had been powerful to see how many people were determined to develop a better system.
“The community consultations and the written submission process have been very much about us listening to people so we have an understanding of what the reality is and the challenges are that people face,” Ms Armytage said.
“The hearings are the beginning of the process at looking more deeply into those issues.”
No expense will be spared when it comes to implementing mental health system reform, Minister for Mental Health Martin Foley said.
He said all the recommendations from the commission would be taken on-board, which “will be costly”.
However, Mr Foley said the price of inaction would be worse, with more than $2 billion being poured into the sector in state funding, but with no improvement.
MORE: HEALTH SYSTEM IN CRISIS
CARING FOR SOMEONE WITH A MENTAL ILLNESS
YOUTHS SEEK MENTAL HEALTH HELP
An interim report is expected later this year after the commission has already spoken with 1600 people and groups.
“We know that our mental health system is broken,” said Mr Foley.
“In the acute mental health area less than half of the people who need assistance are getting it.
“The Royal Commission will give us a pathway and a road map to reform.”
‘Angels’: Hero Coles workers save mum’s life
A mother of three has opened up on how her life was saved after she suddenly collapsed while doing a routine supermarket shop.
Wildlife and traffic fears over music festival
Wildlife advocates fear a weekend music festival in central Victoria will endanger native animals including rescued joeys.