“All in all it has been a really happy and positive atmosphere...

The response has been really good,” Deb Muddiman told the Post.

“We had a lot of young people, including a lot of TAFE students, come through and a lot of services brought clients through as well.

So they were coming through in droves… We also had some great exhibitors here this year and a lot of people were talking to stall holders and learning about what services are available.”

The Goulburn and District Mental Health Expo was held at the Soldiers Club on Thursday and featured a full program of activities including health, beauty and drumming workshops; musical performances; interactive displays; free health checks; guided meditation; and dancing, to name but a few.

There were also guest speakers on the day including Joanne Cunningham (whose son Hugo tragically took his own life at the age of just 18) as well as a number of mental health sufferers, the most notable of whom was former Fremantle Dockers mid-fielder Heath Black.

The AFL star’s 12 year playing career was plagued by off field controversies that only intensified after retirement. They often made him a media fixture. However, what the public didn’t realise was his inner struggle.

Black suffered from undiagnosed ADHD type six as well as bipolar two, obsessive compulsive and anxiety disorders. But like many men, especially those in the public eye, he never sought treatment, believing it was something he needed to deal with on his own.

“I used to suffer panic attacks before games and I never knew what they were,” he explained during an interview with the Post.

“I didn’t know they were panic attacks and I guess I had that ‘blokey-bloke’ mentality of you need to be tough and do it on your own. That’s what I was until retirement when I used alcohol heavily to cope with my conditions. I also had huge amounts of misdiagnosis. It took six years to get correct medication.”

In the meantime, his life began to spiral out of control. He was charged with drink driving three times and numerous assaults in the Perth CBD. However, he faced one of his biggest legal battles after being charged with assault at the Perth Cup in 2006, where he also assaulted police.

“It was just out of character,” he said.

“I just thought I was a bit of a lad and bloke who liked to have a good time but it was definitely spiraling out of control and then in 2008 I wanted to take my life.”

Today, Black is a different man.

He now travels around Australia educating people about mental wellbeing, from high school auditoriums to corporate boardrooms.

He is also an ambassador for Headspace and works closely with a number of suicide prevention networks, trying to breakdown the stigma.

“It’s one of those things we just don’t talk about that much but hopefully I can open up the channels of communication and we can go from there…” he said.

“I’m so passionate about (suicide prevention) because there is so much to live for and every life is so bloody precious.

“My main message is that nobody is alone. When you’re suffering a mental health issue you often feel you are alone and that’s just not the case… there is support, especially in this town, to make sure people are alright… So I just want to make sure people definitely get help.”

Black believed it was equally important for sufferers to engage with their doctors regularly and if they feel like the medication they are taking isn’t helping or having adverse side effects, they need to say something.

“If you are on meds and they think you’re still suffering, go back to your doctors and challenge them because I was on wrong medication that was giving me manic episodes that were making me do things you could never imagine,” he said.

The Local Area Command also sent Mental Health Liaison Officer, Inspector Anthony McLean, which was beneficial for both Police and the community.