Wayne Schwass - Connecting with Your Emotions Behind The Uniform

Wayne Schwass has lived an extraordinary life. During his 14-year AFL career, Wayne played 282 games, won three best & fairest awards, was an all-Australian, and a premiership player. But behind all of these accolades, Wayne lived with obsessive compulsive disorder, depression, anxiety and suicidal ideations.

In this week's episode of Behind the Uniform, Wayne talks about how the cultures and attitudes of Australia in the 80s and 90s led him to believe that mental illness was only something that occurred in people from social disadvantage, and he refused to accept his own diagnosis, let alone share how he was feeling with others. Wayne also discusses why it's so important to have the communication skills and self-awareness to better understand and improve your own mental health & wellbeing. Through Wayne's personal journey and relationship with mental wellbeing, he created PukaUp - a social enterprise which aims to end suicide in Australia.

This episode is full of wisdom, passion and hope. We learnt so much from Wayne and we have no doubt that you will too!