During a tough period in his rugby career, he decided to leave the spotlight and focus instead on working with the rural community through complex mental health challenges.
“I came to a crossroad, as many players do, when I retired from rugby due to injuries,” he says.
“I found myself looking at a clinical psychology pathway that was not guaranteed and would likely take six years before I would be earning money again. But I received great advice from great people during this time.”
One piece of advice that really struck Jordan came from Clinical and Sports Psychologist David Galbraith, who said “I don't care what you choose, but whatever it is, choose it from courage and not from fear.”
Seven years later, and Jordan is taking the stage this May as one of Te Herenga Waka’s graduating cohort.
Born and raised in Auckland, Jordan also spent part of his upbringing helping family and friends on farms from Canterbury to the far north.
“I fell in love with the rural way of life but also noticed some of the difficult conditions that people living rurally were facing,” says Jordan.
He’d listen to 'Did you hear about so-and-so?’ conversations over a cup of tea on the farm—stories about addiction, mental illness, and sometimes even suicide.
When he was awarded a full PhD scholarship as part of his clinical psychology training, Jordan decided to explore this topic further.
He set out to better understand rural people and their relationships with mental illness, spending time speaking to isolated communities, including farmers, nurses, pastors, stock agents, and sales reps across rural Aotearoa New Zealand.
Jordan says: “The knowledge, skills, and confidence to speak about mental health, competes with longstanding rural values, making mental health conversations in rural communities challenging.” He describes this as the ‘Mental Health Boundary Fence.’
“It represents the idea that some rural people in need of mental health support do not feel comfortable asking for help—crossing the Fence—due to stigma, fear of gossip, and a perceived change in community status.
“On the other side of the Fence, rural people who want to offer support or may be able to offer support, perceive barriers such as violating rural values, privacy, independence, and autonomy, and stepping outside of their social role.
“This leads to a standoff on each side of the fence where both parties feel uncomfortable initiating a conversation about mental health.”
Jordan also looked at identity statements of ‘I am a farmer’ vs. ‘I am a person, and I farm for a living,’ and how this identity impacted their mental health.
“Having a singular identity based around agricultural occupations poses risks to mental health, as the agriculture industry is influenced by many unpredictable factors.
“It’s risky to tie self-worth closely to that,” says Jordan.
When analysing national survey data, Jordan found limited evidence for a relationship between rurality and mental health when using contemporary ways of defining who lives ‘rurally’.
“This could mean that living rurally does not make a statistically meaningful contribution to mental health outcomes, or that the relationship between rurality factors and mental health is complex, and further research into the mechanisms that drive rural mental health difficulties is needed.”
In his thesis, Rural Mental Health in Aotearoa: Measuring Rurality, Exploring Rural Identity & Unpacking Psychosocial Processes Within Rural Communities, supervised by Professor Marc Wilson and Associate Professor Matt Hammond, Jordan has generated several intervention targets that can be used by mental health providers to increase psychoeducation and mental health literacy.
Before retiring from Super Rugby, Jordan says it was tricky juggling both a sporting career and his studies.
“It took me eight years to complete my three-year Bachelor of Science alongside training and playing,” says Jordan.
“It was difficult to maintain my grades, at times having to stop part way into a trimester, or study while I was on tour, but it shaped my time management and perseverance skills and gives me a point of difference in the mental health space.”
Jordan played professional rugby for several years after signing on for the Chiefs in 2014. His career took him England and Japan, all while dedicating spare time between training and games to his work.
Now that his PhD is complete, there is another milestone on the horizon for Jordan—maybe the most important one of all.
“My fiancé Makenna and I are planning our wedding for January 2027 and currently saving up for the celebration.
“She kept us financially stable and sacrificed a lot to get us through the last part of my PhD, so I am looking forward to celebrating with her when all the studies are over.”