CARLTON ruckman Matthew Lobbe has opened up about how mental illness has affected his family.

The 29-year-old joined forces with other AFL footballers in Courageous Conversations, a four-part video series by the AFL Players’ Association and the Movember Foundation.

Lobbe, Dayne Beams, Taylor Adams and Connor Blakely share their personal experiences with mental illness in the series.

“My family has gone through some mental health challenges through the last few years,” Lobbe said.

“My brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was 19 and I was 21.

“Mum had cyclical depression... A lot of the conversations she had in asking people for help were really courageous ones that I admired that I would have found really hard to do.

“Before what happened to my family I didn’t have any understanding of mental illness. The more we can talk about mental health, the easier it is going to be for people that are going through something.”

You can view Courageous Conversations here.