By Ashlee Harrison,Rhianna Mitchell

Copyright thewest

When Bradd Dalziell crossed the line of a half marathon in May, in memory of his late friend and former West Coast teammate Adam Selwood, he experienced a shift which would change the trajectory of his life.

Late last year, as Dalziell was flattened by mental health issues following a relationship breakdown, Selwood was among the friends who supported the 38-year-old as he waded through — and started to emerge from — a tough time.

And it was in recognition of this friendship, one which started during their playing days at the Eagles and continued into their post-AFL careers at the club, that Dalziell joined a team running in Selwood’s place in the HBF Run for a Reason.

In doing so, they finished what Selwood started after losing his twin brother Troy to suicide in February; a fundraising mission to support the work of WA mental health charity zero2hero.

More than $96,000 was raised, far surpassing Selwood’s $10,000 goal.

And as Dalziell reconnected with old friends and made new ones, all feeling the unfathomable loss of the much-loved Selwood, who died in May, the seed was sown for him to take a leap into the unknown.

Last month the father-of-three departed the West Coast Eagles’ nest he had been in for 17 years — five as a player and 12 as an employee — to take up a role with zero2hero, the charity so close to Adam’s heart.

“Talking to people that connected with Adam in different stages of his life, his work-life, football-life, those touch points along the way, I recognised the impact he had on people’s lives,” Dalziell said.

“He was just a good person, a genuine, honest person and every time you spoke to him you felt valued. His entire family is like that.

“Being able to run with his name on the shirt, and with $96,000 raised from people far and wide, was phenomenal . . . it just shows the impact he and his family had.”

Dalziell hopes to further that impact at zero2hero, where he will manage the charity’s team of facilitators who deliver mental health programs to WA schools.

“I see first-hand the impact these programs have — giving young people the skills, the confidence and the courage to speak up. That’s what will save lives,” he said.

“I’m putting pressure on myself to do something different, knowing if I do it well, I’m going to get the rewards from it.”

The role is an extension of Dalziell’s work with the Eagles as schools and community development manager, which had mental health and resilience at its core.

He passionately shares zero2hero’s ethos that early intervention and prevention is the key to the mental-health crisis, and knows the power that exists in sharing personal experiences.

For Dalziell, those experiences, his own struggles and the loss of several close friends to suicide, have shaped who he is and what he wants to achieve.

“When you lose people close to you that you care for and they care for you, it really hits home,” he said.

“You start thinking, ‘Why?’ What could I have done? Could this happen to me?’ The sense of helplessness does come over you.

“As men we were never really taught how to deal with our feelings and emotions, fearing we’d be labelled as weak or less of a man for showing that you’re vulnerable. And that culture cost me mates.

“I want my children to be able to express how they feel without judgement and be comfortable to put their hand up and say ‘I’m not OK’, and let those around them help them out. I want them to have the skillset to deal with the pressure life throws at them.”

On AFL grand final day this year, Dalziell will join a group of mates in an annual tribute game in honour of former WAFL player Andrew Macpherson, who took his own life in 2021 at the age of 33.

“It’s in memory of a person who was well-loved, and it’s also a great way of old mates connecting together,” he said.

“It’s the camaraderie, a connection point for people within our group who are still going through tough times; celebrating a life but spending time together, and from that, conversations are continuing.”

Dalziell is grateful for the friends, the conversations, and that he was able to finally ask for help when he hit breaking point.

It was another former teammate, Kasey Green, who Dalziell first opened up to.

“I said ‘what do I do’, and Kasey helped me through that phase. It took me a lot to reach out and actually have that conversation, and once I did, I knew it was the right thing to do,” Dalziell said.

“People are genuinely concerned for their mates, and all it needs is that first conversation starter. These conversations need to be as normal as saying hello to a mate. That’s the world I want my kids to grow up in.”

Dalziell says it’s no coincidence that so many former AFL players experience mental health issues.

(Depression) is one of the biggest killers of men aged between 16 and 44 and that is the sweet spot of AFL players.

“And I don’t think you’d get an AFL player that hasn’t had some sort of mental health issue across the course of their career, or pre and post it.

“It’s a fickle industry. People put a lot of pressure on themselves, and other people put a lot of pressure on them, so it does become a breaking point.”

Just last week Bailey Smith, the Geelong star who is, as Dalziell says, “at the top of his game,” admitted his own personal struggles.

“It doesn’t discriminate, and it’s about how do we provide preventative measures so people can cope with challenges when they do arise,” Dalziell said.

“That’s what we do here, trying to upskill our youth of today.”

Zero2hero has impacted more than 250,000 young people since its inception in 2013, through school programs, leadership camps and community events.

Its flagship program, Camp Hero, takes teens into nature and equips them with life-saving skills to bring back to their school and communities.

The charity was founded by Ashlee Harrison, who lost her stepfather to suicide. Ms Harrison said youth mental health was in crisis.

“We’re seeing huge rates of self-harm coming through, and there’s a lack of purpose (in young people) but also an overwhelm in being able to keep up with it all,” she said.

“Young people are exposed to so much more information, and pressure, and I don’t think adults fully understand that pressure, and that they have never been able to switch off.”

Ms Harrison said it was a tragedy that mental health prevention accounted for less than 0.1 per cent of government funding, given the potential impact of programs such as Camp Hero.

“I understand our health system is struggling across the board, but we have a tidal wave of young people needing support,” she said. “These programs are not a luxury, they’re a lifeline.”

For Dalziell, as he settles into the new role and new chapter, he hopes he can give back as much as he has received from family and an ever-widening friendship group, that he knows he can call on when times, inevitably, get tough.

“I’m not out the other side just yet, life throws challenges every single day, but I feel like I’m more prepared now that if something does happen, I’ve got the tools and the assistance around me to overcome it,” he said.

“Everything happens for a reason, and I’ve managed to go through a lot, but it’s worked out OK. A lot of it is from being able to use the tools that we speak about to kids . . . building a really good friendship network, being honest with yourself, talking to yourself the way you talk to other people, being really respectful of others.

“That’s really helped me get to where I am.”

zero2hero.com.au

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