headspace welcomes six new ambassadors

A Neighbours star, the First Bloke and high-profile AFL players are among six new ambassadors recently appointed by headspace to raise awareness around youth mental health issues and encourage young people who are going through a tough time to seek help.

The new ambassadors join the likes of television personalities Ruby Rose and Dylan Lewis and AFL Players’ Association members Bob Murphy, Nick Duigan and Dan Jackson.

The new headspace ambassadors are:

• Heath Black, former Fremantle AFL player
• Campbell Brown,  Gold Coast AFL player
• Simon Hogan, Geelong AFL player
• Gus Johnston, former Victorian Hockey player
• Tim Mathieson, men’s health advocate and ‘First Bloke’
• James Mason, Neighbours actor

Simon Hogan, the Geelong AFL player who shared his own struggle with depression after becoming involved with headspace, is already seeing the impact of his role as an ambassador.

“The day after my story hit the media I heard from the Geelong club doctor that he had two young men come into his general practice with mental health issues, they both said they’d heard my story and it gave them the courage to seek help,” he said.

“This is exactly what I was hoping to achieve by telling my story, I want young people to realise they’re not alone and can overcome mental health problems by getting the right support.”

The new ambassadors will be involved with headspace on a national and local community level through our headspace centres. They will attend events, take part in public forums, deliver mental health literacy training and act as spokespeople for headspace campaigns.  

headspace CEO Chris Tanti said headspace ambassadors are an important part of the work it does to raise awareness in the community, and especially among young people.

“headspace is all about promoting better mental health outcomes for young people around the country,” Mr Tanti said.

“We know young men are notoriously reluctant to seek help when it comes to mental health issues, so these new male ambassadors will play a significant role engaging with and educating young men on the often taboo topic of mental health.”

“Each ambassador brings something different to the role, whether it’s a personal experience, such as Simon Hogan, general interest in the area, like Tim Mathieson or even professional expertise, like Nick Duigan who is a qualified psychologist and works at our headspace centre in Southern Melbourne”.