FORMER Warrington Wolves centre Greg Inglis is making waves back in his native Australia.
After enjoying an illustrious career in the NRL, the former Australian international and State of Origin representative made a move to Warrington ahead of the 2021 Super League season.
Inglis played just three times for the Wolves before retiring from the sport and becoming a mentor at the Cheshire club.
In and amongst all that, the 35-year-old has set up the Goanna Academy in Australia, with the website outlining its aims of the mental health group.
“Greg Inglis’ Goanna Academy is the first accredited & Indigenous-owned mental health organisation in Australia. Our mission is to help end the stigma surrounding mental health and improve social capacity to identify, talk about, and manage mental health for all Australians, in particular at risk groups such as Regional Males, Youth, and First Nations communities.”
It’s an incredible attempt by Inglis to help more of his own indigenous community – the 35-year-old is part of the Dunghutti tribe from Kempsey – and it has since been revealed that he has saved the lives of six people after they came to Inglis looking for help.
With regards to those talks, however, they often leave Inglis needing to talk about the experiences too.
“I then need to seek help too. It happens regularly,” Inglis told The Daily Telegraph.
“But you can’t work in this space without working on yourself.”
Inglis is also keen to stress that he uses his own personal experiences – he was diagnosed with bipolar disease in 2019 – to help the people that come into the Academy’s sphere.
“Because kids especially, they can smell bulls**t a mile away.
“I have to go there as somebody who not only dealt with what they have, but still deals with it now. I have to be genuine about my own experiences because it’s only once I get personal with them that they can trust me.”
