Aleisha Power can vividly remember when her mental health hit rock bottom.
Key points:
- Aleisha Power sought help with her mental health in 2019
- She is one of an increasing number of elite athletes doing so
- Now she helps mentor teens to take care of their own mental health
It was 2019. She was on the fringes of the Australian hockey team, dealing with being overlooked for a spot in the Hockeyroos squad.
And then a perfect storm of events pushed her over the edge.
“I had a really rough relationship breakdown,” she said.
“And then I totalled my car. And then while I was loaning my mum’s car, my wallet was stolen out of the car and they went on a tap and pay spree and took a lot of money.
“It just felt like someone was tipping a bucket of water over me.
“I just felt like I could not breathe anymore. I was like, I need help.”
Individually, these events might not seem catastrophic, but for Power it followed years of relentlessly pursuing a spot in the Hockeyroos, following her debut in 2017.
“[I thought] I’ve made it now I’ve played for the Hockeyroos. And I really want to be in the squad,” she said.
“But then it’s like ‘nah, nah, nah’. And you can’t really commit to a full-time job or a career, because you’re like, ‘what if I can do it and play for the Hockeyroos?’
“Then you’re in this mindset of like, well, why am I committing to this? I don’t know if I’m ever going to make it.
“I felt like my life did not move for like three years.”
The repeated rejection, the cascade of external events and unacknowledged poor mental health led Power to cycle through periods of manic motivation to deep crashes.
“I’m going do everything, I’m going to be this, so I’m going to work my ass off, to then like, I can’t function as a human, I’m crying all the time. I don’t want to leave my house,” she said.
Power realised she needed help, and reached out to psychologists at the Western Australian Institute of Sport.
It took her 18 months to start feeling like herself again, which coincided with her return to the Hockeyroos team, and ultimately the squad.
From Northam to the world stage
Power grew up playing a lot of different sports in Northam, a 100 kilometre drive north-east of Perth.
She moved to Perth as a teenager, going to boarding school while she played hockey.
At 16, she was selected at a junior Australian level, eventually working her way up to the Hockeyroos.
(ABC News: Tom Wildie)
“The hardest part was actually cracking the Hockeyroos squad as a goalkeeper. It’s quite a competitive position,” she said.
“It took me four years after my debut to grind away to finally get selected on my squad and that was kind of like finally my foot was in the door at a career playing for Australia.”
Since returning to the Hockeyroos squad, Power has won a Commonwealth Games silver and a World Cup bronze medal.
But she’s also taking on another challenge, becoming an Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) Mental Fitness Ambassador.
It’s a partnership between the AIS and the Black Dog Institute which facilitates current and former elite athletes speaking with high-schoolers about mental health.
Power is one of 22 ambassadors, along with boxer Caitlin Parker and swimmer Mitch Larkin.
“I just remember feeling a lot of pressure to be something in high school, like you have to be something and you have to choose a career,” she said.
“I don’t think there was any sort of like, ‘are you looking after yourself? Can you be a good person?’
“I feel like [school was] missing the human side of school kids.
“If you’re not looking after yourself and knowing your worth and having a healthy mind, you’re not going to be successful and whatever you choose to do anyway.”
More athletes seeking help
Power is not an anomaly in terms of elite athletes seeking help, with the AIS revealing numbers have more than doubled in four years.
“In 2019, we probably saw around 200 referrals come through the Mental Health Referral Network (MHRN). And in 2022, we saw about 550 referrals,” said AIS clinical psychologist Nicole Burattin.
“I think we’re seeing a number of different factors that might be contributing to that increase in people accessing mental health support.
“We know that people are becoming more aware of services like the mental health referral network, and that it is a positive service that people are likely to recommend to others.
“I also think that that stigma around mental health is decreasing as well.”
The MHRN is a program where athletes can seek mental health support, either through self-referral or through family, friends and coaches.
Ms Burattin said early intervention is important.
“The quicker that we can recognise that someone might be struggling with poor mental health, the quicker that we intervene, the better the outcome for that person,” she said.
“We can sort of relate that to the idea of tooth decay. So if we have a hole in our tooth, the quicker we get to the dentist and get that filled, the better the outcome.
“Mental health is really quite similar. The quicker that we can recognise that someone or ourselves might be struggling, the quicker that we can get support, the better the outcome for that person and their mental health.”