Young Blood - Men’s Mental Health

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...

Doing your best to show up every day and juggle everything you have to juggle, can feel like a lot.

And even if life’s on track, the urge to break free of routine and blow off steam can still hit.

In seeking freedom, we often choose things that keep us trapped.

Opting for the quickest, easiest dopamine hits can feel good in the moment, but they always over promise and under deliver.

It’s not the feeling you get from drinking, drugs, ga...

Alex Kalliris is a clinical psychotherapist and Program Director at Foundation House, a residential rehab service in New South Wales supporting men from the construction industry to take back control from alcohol, drugs and gambling.

He’s spent the past eight years working with men at rock bottom — helping them break destructive cycles, rebuild trust and rediscover meaning.

In this episode, we talk about mental health in construction...

I’ve stuck with this podcast for 301 weeks — 2,107 days and 230 episodes.

But outside of the interviews, I still hesitate to share my thoughts and feelings...

The show’s always been about the guests, and that’s the way it should be — but sometimes it feels like I fade into the background and hide behind the role of host.

I’m afraid of making it about me.

I’m so conscious of coming across as cringe and self-centred, that I avoid sharin...

Brayden Ainsworth grew up chasing the footy dream and he caught it. From small town W.A, to the big stage of the AFL, he made it, but behind the scenes, the pressure to perform, the need for validation and the obsession with being in peak condition, were quietly eating away at him.

When Brayden was delisted by the West Coast Eagles, after a short rollercoaster career, the identity he'd built his life around was suddenly gone, a...

Some moments are so impactful they can split your life in two — there's before it happens, and everything that comes after...

For skydivers Lucch and Ben, that moment came in mid-air over Byron Bay, when a routine jump went catastrophically wrong. A shocking collision in freefall obliterated Ben's leg, and knocked Lucch unconscious, sending him cartwheeling thousands of feet toward the ground and almost certain death...

Miraculou...

Teenage boys are growing up in a world where manhood is being put under the microscope and redefined in real time.

The mixed messages are everywhere — be strong, but vulnerable; speak up, but don’t say the wrong thing; just be yourself, but only if you fit the mould...

And while adult voices dominate the conversation on how young men should behave, very few are actually asking boys what they think and feel.

18-year-old Jesse has been ...

In Australia, around 1.5 million men report lifting weights regularly, with countless young guys in their teens, twenties and beyond structuring their lifestyle around building their body in the gym.

For many, the gym is a safe haven providing structure, growth and community providing huge physical and mental health benefits. But there is a dark side… with research showing one in ten gym-going men may experience muscle dysmorphia, a...