The sudden death of his father rattled Darryl Wilson and saw him reach out to a psychologist for the first time to get help.
As a triple-premiership winning football coach at Strathfieldsaye Football Club in Bendigo, Darryl knows that wellbeing is as much about good mental health and connection to community as it is physical health.
If you or someone you know needs support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyondblue on 1300 224 636. In an emergency, call 000.
IMAGES: A yellow football is shown lying on a green sports oval at night under bright lights.
A man, Darryl Wilson, is shown on the ground, talking with football players. Darryl is wearing a purple sports coat which says BFNL 2019 in large yellow letters on the back and a baseball cap.
“My name is Daryl Wilson. I live in Bendigo and I’m now Assistant Coach with the Strathfieldsaye Footy Club and help in a mentoring role with the players.”
IMAGES: Darryl is shown sitting down on a chair in football club rooms. It’s daytime and he’s wearing a shirt and a navy puffer vest. Lots of club memorabilia is also shown and Darryl is pointing to a line of football tops framed behind glass on the wall. He is smiling.
“Strathfieldsaye Footy Club I come to seven years ago as the Head Coach and decided to take on a pretty new job because they were only two years old and during that period we were able to win three premierships as a senior club.
“Being a community-based club we were able to not only, as I said be successful and play and win and play each week but we’ve also had the obligation we felt as a club, to help and support young players.”
IMAGES: Darryl is shown on the football oval talking with players. The players are listening intently to what he is saying.
“One of the, one of the big things for me as coach is to make sure that players are stable. When I, when I first talk to a player it’s not about football; it’s more about how are they going in their life first.
“Yeah, look I’m 52-years of age so I’ve been around footy clubs for a long time.
“When I first started following and then playing football I think mental health was seen as something that you dealt with something internally.
IMAGES: Darryl is holding a football underneath the goalposts and handballing it to himself. He is shown standing by the fence, looking into the distance.
“You didn’t, you didn’t show that you were, in those days, ‘weak’ - which looking back now is terrible.
“I had the death of my own father four years ago and felt that I just needed something, just a little bit of support to help.
“My dad, like he died really quickly so it was even like you know … he was mad on sport, footy so he was a great supporter of me footy-wise. When it happens it hits home, but yeah.
“Thankfully now we have the ability to say it’s ok I’m battling, I need help, I’ve got anxiety, I’m depressed, and you know I think we are much better at helping each other out than we ever have been.”
IMAGES: players are shown running on the oval and completing drills. Darryl is walking around them and pointing.
“I think sporting clubs, any club to be honest whether it’s a band, or you know dance club it doesn’t matter, I think having people around you is the most important thing for mental health.
“That’s being able to talk to people, getting help, looking for help and it’s ok to do that. I think that’s the cultural change.
“I think it’s important for everybody that we get it out there that mental health is not something you have to deal with by yourself. It’s not an individual thing.
“We all suffer in some shape or form with mental health and we need to get it out there that there is help, there is support and there are people who can get you through the bad times.”
IMAGES: Darryl stands near the football memorabilia and laughs. He is then shown on the oval looking serious.
“I think it’s really important that the message is very clear it’s ok to ask, it’s ok to seek help; it’s not something you have to deal with yourself anymore. There is so much support out there we just gotta ask for it.”
IMAGES: The screen fades to white. Writing appears which says ‘It’s Time to Talk about Mental Health’. The next screen says for support contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyondblue; The final screen says To find out more search www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au