His book ‘Defying The Enemy Within’ goes on sale on Tuesday, and is a warts-and-all account of his battles with mental illness, his suicide attempt, and the tools he uses to keep his greatest adversary at bay.

Mr Williams is once again living in Dubbo, and the former Dubbo CYMS captain-coach and 2011 Bob Weir Medallist says he is nervous about the release.

“I do this stuff for a living, but obviously I can’t tell every story every night in the talks I do with people,” he said.

“I know the content will help people, but still the subject of suicide and mental health aren’t easy for everyone to take in and understand.

“This book is the first time I’ve sat down and pieced together my whole story, and there’s nothing held back.

“I write about the first time I remember having suicidal thoughts, being in the mental health ward for the first time when I was coaching CYMS. It’s all in there.”

Harper Collins are publishing the book, and Mr Williams said they actually encouraged him to elaborate on stories through the production process.

“They’ve been great. It’s their domain and they know what makes a decent book,” he said.

“There’s different issues raised in it, and they would come to me and say “can you add to this?” or “talk more about that” so I’d go off and do that.

“I’m doing a bit of a launch tour in Sydney and Melbourne from next week, and when I get back to Dubbo I’ll be doing stuff as well.

“That’s really important to me, because it’s where I live, it’s where three of my kids are living, and I’ve never actually spoken on a public forum there on the topic.

“It needs to be spoken about because mental illness, like any illness, can hit anyone at any time, whether they’re young or old.”

‘Defying The Enemy Within’ will be available in all good book stores from Tuesday, January 23.