RisingUP: Telethon funding helps former Wildcat Greg Hire bring mental health to WA schools

Former Perth Wildcat Greg Hire is passionate about mental health and wellness.

So much so that he’s taking that passion to regional kids with a new program through his non-profit mental health organisation, A Stitch in Time.

Thanks to funding support from Telethon, the risingUP program introduces important mental health concepts to students using hands-on, interactive workshops.

The workshops are all about early intervention and encouraging students to practice self-care when managing their own mental health.

“For me, I always talk about removing that ‘ticking the box’ mentality,” Hire said.

“High school students are quite hard to deliver presentations to because they can be judgmental, but (following) the initial feedback, I had to text our team and I text family members, and I just said, ‘that was unbelievable’.

“It was really, really well received.”

Hire and his team will visit 100 schools across WA as part of the program, with presentations at several Kimberley and South West schools already under their belts.

The risingUP team includes a psychologist, experienced facilitators, elite athletes and trained youth educators.

They discuss concepts with students like gratitude, the importance of exercise and healthy sleep for a healthy mind.

Depending on the age group, the team also delves a bit deeper into self-care techniques, reducing stigma around mental health, and the importance of support-seeking knowledge and behaviour.

“Mental health is a tough thing to talk about, to make it authentic and engaging as well as insightful and educational,” Hire said.

“We try and keep those presentations engaging in an organic way where they don’t feel like it’s another mental health presentation and death by PowerPoint or slideshow.

“It’s an opportunity for those students to humanise it. The engagement has been absolutely tremendous.”

Hire founded A Stitch in Time in 2014 while he was still playing professional basketball, and with his connections in the sporting world he plans to bring along popular sporting identities with his team as they attend schools.

“The best way to deliver or provide this ongoing education of students is to build trust and build relationships,” he said.

“It can be challenging at times if you’re just coming into a school for one time, so now we’ve got a touch point (and) next year when we come back in, they will remember those faces, so in essence there’s not that hesitation.”

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