Young Blood - Men’s Mental Health

On the cusp for a decade, but never quite making the big time in professional surfing, Cooper's life was destined to go down another path.

After seeing his sister lose multiple friends to suicide and facing his own challenges, he educated himself on mental health and founded The Good Human Factory to connect people with simple tools to improve their wellbeing.

It took off, and has since grown into countless nationwide workshops f...

Matty signed up to serve in the Australian Army and deployed to Afghanistan as a young soldier.

On his 22nd birthday he was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and soon discharged from defence.

For the past 7 years he's shared the unfiltered ups and downs of his journey through Instagram, and was recognised with an OAM for his contribution to brain cancer awareness.

He’s since travelled to some of the most dangerous parts of the ...

Masculinity is one of the hottest debates in our culture right now. Boys are growing up in a world that never switches off, where social media, peer pressure and online figures shape how they see themselves and each other.

Daniel is right in the thick of it. He spends his days in schools across Australia, speaking to tens of thousands of young men about identity, relationships and mental health. His work is about giving boys the spa...

David migrated from Scotland to Australia as a teenager, worked his way into local government, and by his late thirties, had become South Australia’s youngest ever Opposition Leader. But the pressure of holding that position took a toll he eventually couldn’t hide...

In 2024, a video surfaced showing him using cocaine, sparking front page headlines, intense scrutiny, and the collapse of his career. Initially in denial out of shame a...

There’s positive signs male suicide is finally trending down.For the first time since the Suicide Prevention Australia Community Tracker began quarterly reporting on suicide related behaviour in 2022, the stats have swung in the right direction...Suicidal thoughts, plans and attempts have all reduced.According to the latest national report for September:Serious thoughts of suicide: 19% → 13%Making a suicide plan: 6% → 3%Attempting ...

 Tom's worn a lot of different hats in his life. Tradie, AFL footballer, musician and model. On the surface, it looks like the dream run, but it doesn't tell the whole story.

Through it all, he's grappled with bouts of anxiety and depression, experiencing his most intense symptoms in a Richmond guernsey. Not understanding what he was dealing do with, he hid it for years, until telling the truth eventually started to set...

When JK was studying radiation therapy, he never imagined he’d one day become a cancer patient himself. At 33, he was diagnosed with Burkitt’s lymphoma, one of the most aggressive blood cancers, after a lump suddenly appeared on his neck.

He went through months of gruelling chemo while raising two young kids, relying on his wife Pam and their support network to hold the family together. From his hospital bed, JK launched How Bloody ...

In a famous study, people were asked to sit quietly in a room for 15 minutes. They’d previously tested a mild electric shock and said they’d pay to avoid it. Yet when left alone, they were given access to a shock button.

Despite there being no reward, 67% of men and 25% of women chose to zap themselves during the experiment (Wilson et al, 2014).

Conclusion: Many participants found it so uncomfortable to be alone with their thoughts, ...

40% of Australians feel lonely at any given time and loneliness is linked to higher risks of depression, cognitive decline, a weakened immune system, and even premature death.

If you’ve ever felt lonely, this episode will help you make sense of it. We break down what loneliness really is and practical ways to address it.

My guest, Nigel Polak, President of the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia, talks through the ...

Connor was 16 when his life was turned upside down.

After his first relationship ended, he felt off, but didn’t know why. It came as a shock when a GP visit revealed he was living with severe depression.

It got worse before it got better, culminating in a suicide attempt that almost robbed him of an awesome future.

Like flicking a switch, waking up in hospital to a second chance fundamentally shifted his approach to life — but the roa...

A Stanford study recently found AI chatbots only responded safely to 50% of serious prompts, such as those related to suicidal ideation and psychosis.

About 1 in 5 replies were harmful, validating dangerous thoughts. (Stanford, 2024 via NY Post)

How many of us are using it?

A nationally representative sample survey of U.S adults found 60% have used AI for emotional support.

Nearly 50% believe it can be beneficial. (Zhou et al., 2024 &a...

Andy faced some significant mental health challenges and received multiple diagnoses before he was even 18.

Navigating those stormy seas early, he connected with therapy and was able to develop an understanding of himself that made it all make sense. That experience became the inspiration for his pursuit of becoming a clinical psychologist — a reality he's now on the precipice of.

Andy’s got a particular interest in advocating fo...

Justin grew up idolising his father’s version of strength - gritting his teeth, pushing through pain to provide for his family, never speaking about his troubles.

He picked up the same pattern, often putting others first and ignoring what was going on inside. At school, he was bullied and insecure, desperate to be liked and terrified of being left out. He learned to use his sharp wit as a way to fight back - and over time, it even t...

A 2025 survey of 2,565 Australians by Growth Distillery and Medibank, found that nearly 2 in 3 respondents use platforms like Instagram and TikTok as their main source of mental health and wellbeing information.

50% of the most viewed mental health videos on TikTok were shown to be misleading.

A recent investigation by The Guardian analysed the 100 most viewed videos on TikTok tagged #mentalhealthtips.

A panel of qualified mental heal...

40% of men lose touch with close friends after major life changes.

Moving, having kids, starting a new job. We don’t fall out, we just stop showing up.

(UK Men’s Health Forum, 2022)

Why does it happen?

• Priorities change
• We stop making time
• We wait for them to make it happen
• We don’t want to make it awkward
• We assume our mates will just always be there — until they’re not

The truth is, friendships don’t survive on memories — the...

Footy was everything to Tim growing up, giving him something to strive for and a place to belong. But there was plenty he never shared with his teammates...

Living with OCD compulsions since childhood, and diagnosed with depression and anxiety at 19, the chaos in Tim's mind ruled everything from game-day to daily life.

Enduring multiple knee reconstructions, a gambling problem and more mistakes than he can count, Tim's finall...

More men are asking for help — but they’re not getting what they need.44% of Australian men who start therapy drop out early, and a quarter never come back after the first session.(Movember, 2021)The most common reason for dropping out?A lack of connection with the therapist — over half of men who quit therapy said they couldn’t connect.Finding the right psychologist isn’t easy. A 2022 U.S. survey showed people see an average of th...

Nick Mayhugh has a dead spot on his brain, but you wouldn't know it from looking at him.

Diagnosed with cerebral palsy at 14 after a seizure, Nick was told he'd never play sport again, but he didn't listen. Instead, he used as fuel to defy the odds, playing soccer through high school and college, then becoming a star for the US Para 7-a-side soccer team, before making the switch to track.

Nick burst onto the world stage at the Toky...

Strong relationships act as a protective buffer against mental health struggles. When you feel safe, supported and valued, your brain and body is better equipped to handle stress.

People with emotionally supportive partners recover from stressful life events faster and with fewer long-term psychological scars (Journal of Traumatic Stress, 2021).

A toxic relationship is worse for your health than no relationship.

The opposite of health...