Paul Whatuira is best known as a hugely successful NRL Athlete,

Kiwi player, 2 x Premiership winner.

He has played for the Warriors, Melbourne, Storm, Parramatta Eels, 

West Tigers, Huddersfield Gians. 

But the high points of his athletic career were matched with lows in his personal life, his mental health.

A victim of sexual abuse as a child, he realised he had really never dealt with the trauma and when his wife became pregnant with their first child it sent him into a tail spin that lead in  2009 to him being admitted to a psychiatric ward in England after attacking two men. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and heavily medicated, effectively ending his league career.

Paul spent five years heavily medicated and trying to work through his problems but emerged a much stronger man for his experiences.

In his own words Paul says: 

"I had to rediscover myself, and build that self-confidence and that reconnection with family and people that are important to you, and having the awareness for living for today," explained the 16-test Kiwis player.

"I genuinely believe that your strength is for living in the now and you have to forgive yourself from the past - you can't bring it back. You have to focus on today and be grateful for the things you have."

"The healing for the things I went through was reconnection with my family, culture and being grateful what I have. Your wellbeing is important - it is important you exercise and do things that make you happy during the day."

In this candid and very real interview he talks about his journey and his work now doing workshops and speaking engagements talking about Mental Health and how he overcame his demons.

You can find Paul at www.internalstrength.nz 

We would like to thank our sponsors

Pushing the Limits - Ultimate Body Transformation programme.

If you want to transform your body, transform your mind and your life in 2019 check out Lisa' revolutionary new program.

The Programme provides not only customised workout routines for the time poor (5 x 30 min a week)  made especially for you and your specific goals but also customised meal plans with simple recipes that are easy to follow, complete with shopping lists. Take all the hard work out of thinking what the best exercise is for you and what to eat. All the heavy lifting has been done for you. 

This programme takes all the guess work out of your training and your eating.

Head over to www.lisatamati.com

Running Hot - By Lisa Tamati & Neil Wagstaff

If you want to run faster, longer and be stronger without burnout and injuries then check out and TRY our Running Club for FREE on a 7 day FREE TRIAL Complete holistic running programmes for distances from 5km to ultramarathon and for beginners to advanced runners.   All include Run training sessions, mobility workouts daily, strength workouts specific for runners, nutrition guidance and mindset help Plus injury prevention series, foundational plans, running drill series and a huge library of videos, articles, podcasts, clean eating recipes and more.   www.runninghotcoaching.com/info and don't forget to subscribe to our youtube channel at Lisa's Youtube channel and come visit us on our facebook group   www.facebook.com/groups/lisatamati   The information contained in this show is not medical advice it is for educational purposes only and the opinions of guests are not the views of the show. Please seed your own medical advice from a registered medical professional