Travis Colyer could also be sprinting into his thirteenth yr of taking part in within the AFL, however the speedy ahead needs folks to know he’s extra than simply Fremantle’s quantity 33.
Staring down a suspension in 2016, Colyer was pressured to replicate on what his id was with out footy on the forefront.
As he sat on the sidelines for your complete season he started asking himself what sort of particular person he was, who he was to folks, is he extra than simply an Essendon participant?
Spoiler: he went on the subsequent yr to play one among his greatest seasons so far. But the 31-year-old, who was traded to Freo in 2019, hasn’t stopped asking himself the onerous questions.
Now although, Colyer — who sees himself as a brand new father to son Charlie, husband to Eloise in addition to a buddy to many — not solely makes an effort to test in with himself day by day, however is working to encourage others to do the identical.
“This was something I had to learn because I didn’t have the general coping mechanisms or skills and strategies for how to deal with general mental health,” Colyer shares.
“The ability to seek out help and not listen to the stigma that surrounds seeking someone out; thinking things like ‘you’re bigger than that, you’re better than that, you don’t need to’.
“Things don’t have to be wrong, it could just be a feeling. But you should verbalise it.”
Whether it’s by way of the assist of a teammate, the membership or a buddy, Colyer has discovered talking about his emotions can both make him realise intrusive ideas had been ridiculous, or that there’s a unfavorable pattern forming and he wants to hunt assist.
In a bid to interrupt by way of the stigma that exists round males speaking about their emotions, Colyer believes three easy phrases might be a really perfect place to begin for extra significant conversations — how’re you going?
“We tend to respond within this narrow distribution of not bad, pretty good, I’m alright — there is never much deviation,” he explains.
“It’s the nature in which the question is posed, you know the person kind of cares, they’re not actually asking how are you going, but it’s more a building phrase to build the conversation.”
He makes use of the query as a possibility to make others really feel heard, in addition to replicate on how he’s feeling.
It’s this mind-set that he’ll deliver to his new ambassador position for youth psychological well being charity zero2hero, a partnership with the charitable arm of the Fremantle Football Club. Teaching college students these expertise at a youthful age by way of the Goals aHeadvert program, he believes, will guarantee they construct resilience and know higher take care of their psychological well being in the long term.
“Let’s not try to learn how to swim once something has gone wrong, let’s get in the water and keep our head above and then when a wave comes and we go underneath, you know how to get out of it,” he says of taking care of your psychological well being.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
