Switching fields: Former Chiefs player Jordan Payne moves in to psychology

Tuesday, 2 June 2026

A former Chiefs player is tackling the “shadow topic” of mental health in rural communities.

Jordan Payne said he became aware of the scope of the problem by frequently hearing the issue raised over cups of tea with rural mates — “you know, like, did you hear about so and so who’s struggling with their mental health? Or did you hear about so and so who took their own life?”

After nearly a decade training in psychology, the stigma surrounding the topic came as a surprise.

Payne, who lived in Hamilton from 2014 to 2015 and played for Waikato and the Chiefs, graduated with a PhD from Victoria University of Wellington last week.

He now lives in Auckland and is preparing to register as a clinical psychologist while working in primary care.

At university, he enjoyed psychology papers the most, then rugby took priority. Returning to study later, he had a new sense of direction.

“I had some really awesome sports psychologists, that had helped me through my career, who were clinical psychologists. When I came back to study, I looked into clinical psychology and thought that that was a pretty awesome profession.”

They were like “the All Blacks of psychology”, he said.

Payne said his interest in rural mental health grew through time spent on the farms of family or friends, hearing conversations about mental health problems over cups of tea.

It seemed like a shadow topic in rural communities, and when he was offered a scholarship to complete a PhD he chose rural mental health as his focus because there wasn’t a lot of research available and he wanted to improve the situation.

His research used both surveys and interviews, not only of farmers but of other people who lived rurally. He spoke to people across the North Island, including his former home turf of Waikato.

“A lot of the research out there is all about farms and farming and neglects a massive part of the community and the population that that live rurally.”

Payne said rural values of self-determination and self-reliance shaped how some people approached mental health.

“You’ve got people who… think they should be able to handle it themselves, and then people who are standing on the outside watching and don't want to reach out because they don't want to breach privacy or step out of their lane.”

One participant, a dairy farmer struggling with depression, illustrated this tension.

“He was milking and [then] he'd shut himself indoors and shut the curtains and hide away and didn't think anyone was noticing.”

After several months, a neighbour sent a text message checking in.

“They had a conversation and that was sort of the start of getting back on track.”

The continued stigma around mental health was among Payne’s biggest surprises. For example, finding people to participate in his research had been harder than expected.

Some contextual factors made rural mental health nuanced, he said.

There were issues such as isolation and generational succession, as well as many unpredictable factors.

“You've got the weather and overseas markets and disease and things that aren't present for a lot of urban jobs. They can throw a curveball into the whole community. All the people who are in farm-based jobs and all the people who service the farms are are affected by these factors.”

His advice to those in the rural community who were impacted by mental health issues was to harness rural values like curiosity and problem solving to understand the issue and what they could do to manage their own mental health, or help someone else.

“For thousands of people who go to Fieldays to have a look at what the new technology is and things like that, there's this real curiosity in the in the rural community.”

“Mental health is such a sort of buzzword at the moment, but there’s not a lot of detail around what that actually means.”