Sport Australia launches mental health service for top athletes

Sport Australia on Sunday announced that the Mental Health Referral Network (MHRN) will provide 1000 athletes that are members of the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) with access to 27 psychologists and mental health practitioners around the country.

"We know there has been a critical need to build mental health literacy and support mechanisms so that athletes can easily access help across our high performance sport networks," AIS deputy director Matti Clements said in a media release.

"The Mental Health Referral Network will provide timely assessment and services to support Australia's high performance athletes. Professional guidance and counselling is crucial for athlete mental health, and that requires immediate access to committed, high quality mental health practitioners.

"Our ultimate aim is for Australia's high performance athletes to be their very best in life as well as sport."

Sport 2030, Sport Australia's blueprint for sport over the next 11 years, cites athlete wellbeing, including mental health, as one of its key priorities.

The announcement coincided with Dane Bird-Smith, a race walker who won gold in 2018's Commonwealth Games, went public with his own mental health struggles - which came to a head one night in 2017 while he was walking over Brisbane's Story Bridge.

"There was just this moment when I was standing on the side of the bridge. I stood there for maybe half-an-hour thinking ... 'it would be all so much easier to end it there and push it all away," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

"Here's an opportunity, here's the night where I decided 'I've had enough', and I was ready to give up. What I was thinking about was just not being around anymore. That was really, really, scary."