Viliami: A personal encounter - Mental Health Awareness Week

33 year old Viliami aka Villz shares his personal journey with mental health and learning to seek help after struggling with suicidal thoughts and depression.

"I was raised to be tough, to be a warrior, to push your emotions to the side and not show any kind of feelings that were classed as weak.  This led me to find it very difficult to speak up and seek help when I fell into a dark place ... I had suicidal and negative thoughts daily ... I just wanted to die ... I couldn't see I needed help until my wife and kids brought it to my attention" 

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Villz who is of Tongan heritage and his wife Nikki, live in Sydney and have 5 children.  They recently set up an anti-suicide campaign geared towards encouraging individuals who are facing mental health issues to speak up and seek help. 

They started their own mental health movement through their business Poly Kidz to help raise much needed awareness for mental health and suicide prevention over the last couple of years. It's their passion and purpose to continue to help those in need especially Pasifika youth so they can grow into mentally healthy adults.

Lord Fusitu’a, ‘Ofa Services Ltd, First-Class Protection and Twinnies have come together as a team to continue to raise more awareness for mental health and suicide prevention in their community at this time.

They have released the Rise up! Speak Up! video below as part of their campaign.