Mental health can be a sensitive topic and it can be hard to know how to assist someone with a mental illness.

At a recent sports program presentation project facilitator, Kylea Aldred and project officer James Rice from Speak Up Stay ChatTY raised the importance of mental health in the sporting environment.

Located at the Riverside Olympic Football Club, players, coaches and members of the club were able to witness an interactive presentation to help them manage stress and other mental illnesses associated with their sporting and personal lives.

Depression and anxiety are the most commonly occurring mental illnesses in today's society.

These can affect your behavioural well-being, sleeping patterns, decision making and can have physical impacts such as high blood pressure.

"Physical injuries are often pretty easy to detect, but mental ones aren't always as obvious, especially if we don't start up a conversation about them." Ms Aldred said.

With limited knowledge on this topic, it can be hard to know what you can do to manage your mental health or assist someone.

The team from Speak Up Stay ChatTY suggest that you train your mind to be mentally fit.

You can do this in a variety of ways including regular exercise, building strong support systems, positive eating habits and breathing exercises such as meditation and visualization can all improve your mental state greatly.

"We can't control how we feel about something, but we can control how we behave after it," Ms Aldred said.

Ms Aldred explained that she would like to think that when someone receives a physical injury, 100 per cent of the time they would seek treatment.

However, statistics show that only 46 per cent of people with a mental illness feel comfortable seeking help.

It would be hard to believe if only 46 per cent of the community who broke a bone in their body received assistance from a doctor or an ambulance.

A contributing factor that can stop us from seeking help, can be stigma.

One of Stay ChatTY's biggest missions is to reduce this stigma, by informing communities that it is absolutely ok to not be ok.

One of the key messages shared through this presentation had been the importance of reaching out to someone in need.

"If you listen for 20 seconds, you can change someone's life".

If you or someone you know needs support, you can contact lifeline on 13 11 14.