The Mindful Men Podcast

Trigger warning: depression, bulimia and eating disorders Welcome to Episode 89 - AFL and psychedelics with Brock McLean   The world of elite sports can be damaging for both the physical and mental health of the athletes who participate in it. The pressure, risk of losing your spot and constant competitive nature can lead to some drastic effects. That’s why I’m very excited to be talking to Brock...

Trigger warning: depression, agoraphobia, panic disorder and spinal cord injury   Welcome to Episode 88 - Quadriplegia and Medicine with Dinesh Palipana OAM   What kind of mindset and process does it take to live through a catastrophic car accident that leaves you with a cervical spinal cord injury? That’s exactly what we’re finding out this week with our guest Dinesh Palipana OAM. Having experien...

Welcome to Episode 87- Men Feel Lonely Too (Solo episode) In this episode of The Mindful Men Podcast, I dive deep into the often-overlooked subject of men's loneliness, aiming to spark an open conversation about this pressing issue. Drawing parallels between the struggle to discuss loneliness and the broader challenge of addressing men's mental health, I shed light on the barriers preventi...

Welcome to Episode 86- Men of Gold with Dayne Weston This week, I’m joined by former rugby league player Dayne Weston who shares his footy and personal life challenges. Dayne bravely opens up about the impact of childhood trauma, performance-based love, and his struggles during a difficult divorce. Through his own experiences, he emphasizes the need for open dialogue and understanding surrounding...

Welcome to Episode 85 - The Dad’s Community with Stephen Hirst  In the world of parenting, dads can often feel left behind. With all the focus on mums and bubs in the early days, life ends up getting busy and suddenly dads are left wondering why things have got so tough.   Enter Stephen Hurst, the founder of DADS Community. DADS Community provides men with a safe and supportive community just for...

Welcome to Episode 84 - Overcoming trauma with mindfulness with Mark Sidney Are you curious about how mindfulness can help heal trauma? Then join me as I chat with Mark Sidney, the director of Mindful Therapies and the Director of Operations at Mindful Impact Mark brings a wealth of lived and learned experience to the mindfulness-space, and is passionate about sharing how mindfulness can heal trau...

Welcome to Episode 83 - How compliments improve connection (Solo Episode) In a world where negativity often dominates our thoughts and conversations, it's essential that we shine some light into our lives by the way we engage each other.   Join me on this solo episode where I reflect on the power of compliments, and how important it is to not deflect when someone offers us one.   We’ll go thro...

Welcome to Episode 82 - Gluten Free and Coeliac disease with Ben Hampton. Are you or someone you know living with Coeliac Disease? Or maybe you know someone who is going gluten-free in their diet? This week we’re diving into Coeliac Disease, a chronic autoimmune disorder caused by ingesting gluten. Ben Hampton shares his personal journey of living with Coeliac Disease, including the struggles he f...

Welcome to Episode 81 - Overcoming Gambling Addiction with Kate Seselja. Did you know Australia is the Poker machine capital of the world!? Gambling addiction is a hidden struggle that affects countless individuals worldwide. The allure of winning, the excitement of risk-taking, and the illusion of control can quickly spiral into an all-consuming compulsion. Join me as I chat with Kate Seselja abo...

Welcome to Episode 80 - Homelessness and Mental Health with Cameron Thayer  With house and rent prices on the increase, more and more Australians are finding themselves experiencing homelessness. For some, this is nothing new. But given the current financial and housing climates, many are experiencing homelessness for the first time and are unsure where to turn for help. This week I dive into home...

Welcome to Episode 79 - Mindful about Imposter Syndrome Do you ever feel like you're not good enough, despite everyone tell you that you’re doing great? Are you constantly plagued by self-doubt, fearing that you'll be exposed as a fraud?   Let me tell you that you’re not alone, and you may be experiencing Imposter Syndrome—a phenomenon that affects countless individuals, hindering their pr...

Welcome to Episode 78 - Empowering Parents with Kimball Lewis   Let’s be honest, parenting is hard! From toddlers to teens, challenges come and go and we’re often left wondering whether we’re doing parenting right.     If this sounds like you, join me as I chat with parenting expert Kimball Lewis from Empowering Parents. Kimball and I explore ways to empower you as a parent in areas like consequen...

Welcome to Episode 77 - Battling the booze with Simon Bartz  June 12-18 is International Men’s Health Week and this year’s theme is healthy habits.  This week, I sit down with Simon Bartz from Elevate Counselling to talk about healthy habits that follow on from addiction to alcohol.  Simon shares his struggle with the booze, and how he used alcohol to hide from his internal struggles resulting fro...

Welcome to Episode 76 of the Mindful Men Podcast - Bowel Cancer Awareness with Jake Usher June is Bowel Cancer awareness month, so what better way to raise awareness than to talk about our bums?  This week I’m joined by a not-so-average Aussie bloke Jake Usher from WA. Jake has an incredible story of being diagnosed with Stage 4 Bowel Cancer at the age of 31. What started off as an itchy bum and r...

Welcome to Episode 75 of the Mindful Men Podcast - Mastering our Mindset with Ashton Levarek Many of us can struggle with the internal dialogues running rampant in our minds. They beat us down, hold us back, and force us to play life safely. And in the process, we often forget our true selves, and resort to an auto-pilot life that doesn't serve us. But we can change the way we see ourselves, t...

Welcome to Episode 74 - ADHD at 35 with Ange Nennie Are you someone who has gone through life feeling different? Or maybe you’ve been told over and over again that you ARE different - but you were never told how or why? This happened to this week’s guest Ange Nennie. It wasn’t until she was 35 that an ADHD diagnosis put the pieces together. And as we talk about in this week’s episode, so many adul...

Welcome to 73 of the Mindful Men Podcast - Mental Health and Entrepreneurship with Krisztian Riez Mental illness can often knock us for flat, causing us to feel like we’re worthless and can’t achieve anything in life. But this doesn’t have to be the case.  In fact, many people use their lived experience of mental illness to inspire change in others. And this week’s guest is no different.  This wee...

Welcome to Episode 72 -  Living with Tourette Syndrome with Seamus Evans At 10 years old, Seamus Evans was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome, but has never let it stop him from pursuing his dreams of working in TV and radio. He started out as the host of Toasted TV, before becoming a reporter for Totally Wild and then moving into breakfast radio where he is currently the co-host of SEAFM’s Jules an...

Welcome to Episode 71 - Addiction and Social Work with Joey Pagano As a therapist with lived experience of mental illness, I place a lot of value in combining lived experience with professional drive. And whilst it’s not crucial that therapists have lived experience, it certainly helps to understand what our clients are telling us. This week I’m talking to social worker Joey Pagano who shares his...

Welcome to Episode 70 - Self Sufficient Me with Mark Valencia   In recent years, I’ve discovered how good gardening can be for my mental health. It was a staple activity for me during COVID lockdowns, and then again as I recovered from burnout. And as it turns out… I’m not the only bloke who feels this way about my little patch of earth!    This week, I’m joined by a military veteran turn YouTube...

Welcome to Episode 69 - Mindset and Performance with Brian Moylett Picture the 8 year old you. You’re running around the backyard with a ball pretending to play like your favourite footy player. You join your local club and you dream of growing up to be a footy star!  But then as you get older, playing footy gets hard. You’re physically fit, but your mindset is all over the place. Self-doubt creep...

Welcome to Episode 68 - Understanding our Emotions with Marie Vakakis Over the last few years, you may have heard more and more people talk about emotional intelligence. But what does this mean? Emotional intelligence is our ability to understand and manage our emotions in healthy ways. It sounds simple, but for many of us who were taught not to engage with our emotions - this can be hard. And it...

Welcome to Episode 67 - Mindful Midlife Crisis with Billy Lahr Have you had a moment lately where no matter what you do, every day seems a bit more like groundhog day? You want a better life, but have no idea where to start? These thoughts can grow with every day, and lead to things like depression, anxiety, and burnout. Alcohol, drugs or comfort food once gave us relief, but now they’re an ingrai...

Welcome to Episode 66 - Time and Energy Management with Alice Dartnell Have you had enough of feeling overwhelmed, busy without progress and burnt out? If you answered yes, then this is the episode for you! This week I’m having a chat with Alice Dartnell, a time management and energy management coach, trainer, speaker, and author, who is passionate about empowering people to create a life by desig...

Welcome to Episode 65 - Men's Mental Health with Josh Binger This week I’m diving into a powerful discussion about men’s mental health with Josh Binger from Broski. Josh is a man on a mission, aiming to inspire men to open up about their mental health. Josh has experienced the impacts of mental illness first hand, from both a personal and professional level. To help break the cycle of men dying by...