Video transcript 

Isis' story - My ability is bigger than my disability

Isis Holt:

Mental health doesn't discriminate. Just because you're a professional athlete doesn't mean you don't have difficulty with your mental health and wellbeing.  

Brad McEwan:

When it comes to schooling and sport, you've really excelled. What's that been like? 

Isis Holt:

Growing up and in primary school, sport was never my thing.

And I was like, sport's not something I'm gonna do, it's just something I have to do. And then, I found my way into athletics and it, yeah, completely changed everything, really. 

Brad McEwan:

What about your mental health through all of that? 

Isis Holt:

I think mental health is a huge thing amongst teenagers generally. I think in high school, there's a lot going on just socially and academically that you have to deal with. Wanting to do well with schoolwork but also make friends and be socially accepted is really important too.

I know personally, I used to think I'm doing so well in my sport, you know, I should be absolutely loving life. But the reality is there's a lot of pressures and a lot of external things that come with success that are difficult to manage. It can be hard to do that when you're never at school or if you're constantly away training.

I know how awful it is to sit there and feel like you have to deal with something by yourself. Because you think, you know, this is my problem, I should be the one sorting this out. I don't want to worry anyone else. For me, it was just important having people to talk to. 

Brad McEwan:

So who do you go and talk to when you're trying to juggle everything and it's all getting a bit too much?

It took me a while to figure out who was the right person to go to. I don't want to bother anyone with this. Sometimes it's difficult to come out and be like, "hey, I actually am not dealing with any of this very well. Can you help me out?" Eventually I got onto sports psychologists who were great. I think my first experience ever talking about anything to do with how I actually felt about something was always in a team environment.

It was the older athletes that would come up to me and be like, "so how are you going?" And it was through talking with older athletes that I realised how important it was to have that conversation. 'cause I'd walk away like, wow, I actually feel so much better, even personally, the way I speak to my friends now if I'm not having a good day.

And they come up to me and they're like, "are you alright?" I go, "you know what? Not today. Not particularly." And then that opens that conversation up. Even if it's about something really small, like homework or exams sometimes. All you need is that conversation. I kind of know what I want. 

Brad McEwan:

What would you like to think that people will take away from our conversation? 

Isis Holt:

No matter where you're at in your life, whether you're beginning something for the first time, really young, or you're halfway through it, or you're much older and you're just trying new things, wherever you're at, it's never unacceptable to say that you need help with something