While strides have been made to address mental health and well-being in and outside of the world of rugby, most all of us can probably agree we still have a ways to go. 

Last Saturday, Caroline Flack, Love Island host and former girlfriend of England and Gloucester fly-half Danny Cipriani, took her own life at her flat in north east London. The tragic news hit a lot people hard, and perhaps none more so than Cipriani. 

The 16-times capped England out-half took to Instagram to deliver a deeply raw, emotional, and genuine 18 minute dialogue about the situation, and about how we as humans can and should try to treat one another better and with more love. 

A few words... the rest of the video on my Instagram pic.twitter.com/PMyDlgJoNj

— Danny Cipriani (@DannyCipriani87) February 21, 2020

Cipriani shares his own vulnerable story, a one in which he speaks about attempting to buy a gun and end his life when he was 22 years old. The pain is real, and the emotion is palpable, however his aim is not for people to feel sad for him, but rather to acknowledge that it shouldn't take the passing of someone's life for us to extend our sincerest of sentiments to one another. 

(You can watch the whole video here)

He opens up about his relationship with Flack, and how she enabled him to be his most open, vulnerable self, telling her everything he had kept hidden and buried underneath a cloak of embarrassment and humiliation. He says her open ears and compassionate heart helped him to unload baggage that had held him down for years. 

He believes that she succumbed to the pressure of living with an "embarrassment and shame" that was too much for her to take on alone. He wants people to know that it's okay to open up about these things, and that we have to "...understand that love and healing and coming together is what we need to do." 

Even though we all do our best to be tough and fight through whatever internal or external adversity we face in our lives, it's nigh impossible for anyone to face it all by themself. 

While it's a really tough thing to do, the temporary pain of being vulnerable and open with people comes nowhere close to the permanent pain we leave them with if we decide to bottle it all in and pass on.