Young Blood - Men’s Mental Health

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 f...

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 #mentalhealt...

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...

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 mistake...

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. su...

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 bur...

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...

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 f...

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 tal...

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...

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 h...

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...

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...

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...

Research shows around 30% of male suicides are linked to separation, and men who are separated or divorced are up to 3 times more likely to die by suicide compared to those in stable relationships. Scott knows this pain all too well. Enduring a brutal six-year divorce, he was dragged through the family court, given limited access to his children, and found himself stuck in a storm of depression an...

Before his chest was cracked open on the operating table, Nick Hudson was already battling something less visible — depression. He refused to talk about it, pushed people away who tried to be there for him, and wouldn't admit the truth to himself... Then came the life-saving open-heart surgery that forced everything to stop. Recovery was brutal. The silence got louder. And the darkness got darker...

In his early twenties Brodie felt invincible, approaching life like the world revolved around him as he chased one high to the next. It wasn’t long till Brodie had his first child unplanned, at a time he was far from ready to accept responsibility, refusing to change his party lifestyle. His recklessness carried on, and before long he fathered a second child with another woman, and then a third. S...

He was labelled the best in the world at 12 years old — a tennis prodigy bound for greatness, striving alongside a father who was obsessed with his success.  Todd describes his younger years as Groundhog Day, an endless 24 hour cycle hell bent on high performance, in which every tiny detail was put under constant scrutiny.  After many years of knowing no other way to live, Todd hit a wall and had...

In Australia, 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage, 1 in 100 are ectopic, and thousands of babies are born still each year.  Child loss during pregnancy is utterly devastating for the people who experience it—and despite being so common, the grief that follows often remains hidden. This is especially true for men, who can feel obligated to suppress their own distress in order to stay strong for t...

Zach Green was going to be a dad, Three times... Each time, he imagined life as a father and each time his hopes were shattered. In just 18 months, he and his ex-partner lost three babies during pregnancy. The world around him kept moving, but inside, he was stuck— grieving in silence, burying himself in work, and trying to pretend he was all good. In reality, he was living in a cycle of manic dep...

Life has thrown everything at Adam—crippling financial hardship, devastating loss, and more than his fair share of personal demons; heartbreakingly losing both his mum AND his brother to suicide. Adam's struggles began in childhood, living on the poverty line after his mum lost her house and never got it back, leading to her death. That tragedy was repeated by his brother years later when the stre...

Sammy wanted to be a comedian ever since he saw the greats on TV; but the journey so far hasn't been all laughs... Born with facial palsy, he stood out for his crooked smile and had a hard time learning to love himself.  Growing up around a drug addicted brother, Sammy learned early on how unpredictable life can be. And although he's never fallen prey to addiction himself, it's still loomed around...

Jasper spent years throwing punches in the cage, but his toughest fight has always been against himself. Through a childhood marked by instability. Jasper was constantly moving and having to start over, causing frustration and anger that had nowhere to go until he found martial arts. MMA gave him identity and purpose, so much so that he's struggled to define himself as more than a fighter. Now, he...

The suicide rate for people living with bipolar is between 10 and 30 times higher than the general population, accounting for up to a quarter of all suicides in Australia. Research shows up to 60% of those with the condition will make at least one attempt on their life. Father of three, Chris Fraser is one of them. He experienced multiple extended bi-polar episodes in his early and mid-thirties, w...

Mark suspected he was gay from the time he was a young boy and had it confirmed by the time he made it to high school. Raised in a conservative, religious household, he was conditioned to believe that being gay was wrong and that belief, coupled with fear of his parents’ reaction kept him in the closet till he was 28. When he did come out, those fears were realised. His parents weren’t supportive...