Seve de Campo | AIS Mental Fitness Ambassador

Seve de Campo has pushed through the toughest event on the World Cup circuit, the Tour de Ski. He knows the value of resilience and has once again been named a Mental Fitness Ambassador with the Australian Institute of Sport.

We reached out to Seve to find out more about his role as an ambassador for a cause he cares deeply about.

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Being an Ambassador for the Black Dog x AIS Mental Fitness Program has been a fantastic learning experience. Coming into my second year as a program ambassador, my role has been to share meaningful lessons and tips around dealing with mental health challenges to high school students across various institutions.  

I say learning experience because there is no end to our journeys with Mental Health. This program has been complimentary to my own personal growth, I am personally reminded of the importance of being kind to yourself and to others.

I’m not presenting to a bunch of 15-year-olds saying I have all the answers; the fun the essence of life (going deep here) is figuring out the answers yourself. I’m here as an ambassador to give some practical tips for students and share some of my own experiences to hopefully make high school a richer experience.

Getting to flash the green and gold jacket hopefully puts the icing on top of the already great work that our teachers do day-in, day-out in shaping the next generation of young Australians.

This year’s program has been adapted a lot from last year's with a lot more emphasis on practical tools school students can use to be better prepared to look after themselves and their friends as they face common challenges with growing up and becoming an adult. 

Where last year we spoke a lot about mindfulness, gratitude and purpose this year we focus on the various types of social connections and the value in our connections as well as how we can look out for each other, both in recognition and management.

In the program so far, I have visited high schools with different socio-economic backgrounds, schools for students dealing with trauma, schools with uniforms, without uniforms, small country schools and big inner-city schools.

It’s awesome to be reminded of what it was like going through high school. Kids say 'h'i and wave a lot, there are lots of extreme mullets these days - the sharp comb over fade hairstyle when I was at school is gone! - and I’m particularly reminded of the amazing job teachers do every day... it’s impressive. 

The program has just started for this year, and I have a couple online presentations before delivering several in person presentations through semester two of school in the ACT and NSW which I am really excited about.

One of my favourite parts of this program is learning from the audience, how they absorb and respond to different topics. I’m always trying to refine my presentation to draw from my own experiences, make it relatable and fun.