Last night, Jono Pryor made headlines for breaking down during Jono and Ben when talking about the death of a friend and mental illness. His words have since been praised by the audience, but he’s not the only one making mental illness the topic of a nation-wide conversation.
New Zealand’s rugby stars have come together in a campaign for Headfirst—created to help rugby players, coaches, support staff and families in the rugby community to support their own wellbeing and that of others—to share information about mental illness in New Zealand and show that those in the rugby and sporting community are just as vulnerable.
Did you know that 1 in 5 Kiwis experience some form of mental illness in their life? We want to talk about it
MORE: https://t.co/U9haIIIAAA pic.twitter.com/sh7ySdOHWZ
— All Blacks (@AllBlacks) March 16, 2017
Alongside the near minute-long video being shared on social media is a three-minute video, which sees the stars open up about their experiences with mental illness.
Former Super Rugby player James McGougan, Super Rugby player Liaki Moli, Waikato Rugby player Ryan Coxon, former New Zealand referee Chris Pollock, Black Ferns Sevens player Ruby Tui and former All Black Keven Mealamu share how it made them feel and how they overcame it, in an effort to encourage those suffering a similar thing to open up and know they aren’t alone.
