Way back, on 24 July 24 2015, I was pretty jazzed to share a stage with David Burroughs, world-renowned psychologist and strategist at the Sydney Safety Symposium, talking about creating environments that support good mental health. Mind blown by his presentation – as he was with mine :-), we’ve come a long way in our friendship and collaboration. To this day, Dave continues to hold his own, making massive waves in workplace mental health and, like me, embraces the extension of men’s health. Most recently, Dave co-founded Mantle, a men’s health service that provides specialist, confidential, virtual mental health support, addressing the stigma surrounding barriers men experience in seeking and engaging with support. This ties into what International best practice tells us, that one of the key ways to improve men's access to healthcare is by developing male-friendly services, which was acknowledged in Australia’s first National Male Health Strategy https://lnkd.in/dq5gzNi

The mistaken belief that men don’t show emotion, seek help or speak out has become a dangerous acceptance, that abandons much needed investment in men centric services that can lead to reduction and minimise the risk of male suicide. I spoke with Adam Garone, founder of global men’s health charity, Movember. He spoke for the first time about his own experience of situational crisis and his rocky road to finding help that saved his life. An unexpectedly emotional and raw moment, many were bought to tears, hearing Adams message of courage and gratitude - Listen in from 26.20 min. Before that, we heard from controversial Australia Day awards recipient, Bettina Arndt who talks more broadly about her work in achieving gender equity through advocacy for men, including the lack of attention given to men surviving prostate cancer. Listen in at my YouTube channel along with many others like it. What does it feel like, being you today? #situationalcrisis #menshealth #malesuicide #prostatecancer #suicideprevention