Those are words used by 2018 Commonwealth Games basketball gold medalist Jenna O’Hea.
The Australian Opals women’s captain will lead 21 athletes from 13 sports in the inaugural Lifeline Community Custodians, a program with the Australian Insitute of Sports (AIS) that will see athletes become advocates for mental health.
The program was designed by the AIS and Lifeline Australia to reduce the stigma around mental health and encourage people to reach out and get help when they need it.
For O’Hea, the initiative is one that is close to her heart after her 46-year-old uncle died by suicide in late 2018.
“Last December my uncle took his life after that happened I did a lot of research into the suicide statistics in Australia,” she said.
“I was really surprised by how high they were and I realised that if I didn’t know the statistics, there’s probably a lot of other Australians who don’t as well.”
That’s when the 31-year-old initiated the WNBL Lifeline Round.
At first, it was just her WNBL team, Melbourne Boomers, that would donate for every three-pointed they made but the Clubs general manager Justin…
