Young Blood - Men’s Mental Health

For the past five years, this podcast has shared the stories of young men whose lives have been altered by mental health challenges and suicide. According to Lifeline, the ripple effect of each suicide death can be felt by up to 135 people connected to that person. Of those people, direct family members are the most significantly impacted. Today's guest brings us a sister's perspective on...

Sitting alone in a half built dream house after his marriage breakdown, trying to keep his business as a builder afloat during Covid, while managing co-parenting - Dave was thinking to himself, how had it all come to this?  A middle child with a chip on his shoulder, Dave was always trying to prove people wrong and do it all.  That mentality led him to overcommit and under deliver, crushing his id...

Quality sleep is the top of the waterfall from which all of our health flows. Better sleep equals better everything else, and whether you've got waking woes, or you're happy with how you're laying your head, there's simple things we can all do to make tonight's sleep the best yet.  My New Years resolution for 2024 was to improve my sleep performance. I use wearable a sleep trac...

An overweight red-head with ADHD, learning difficulties and no self confidence, Adam Blum was always an easy target... Ridiculed by the bullies who called him, 'Blum', Adam was tormented and belittled from the moment he started school, all the way into his twenties. The way Adam used to see life, he was a victim, desperately yearning for a different life, while convincing himself he was po...

You hear about mental illness and suicide a lot more these days, especially if you follow this podcast; but are things actually getting better or worse? We live in a time with more awareness and acceptance of mental health issues than ever, yet it's not obvious all the attention is moving the needle in the right direction. Young Blood exists to share the stories of everyday men, and that won&#...

All children deserve to feel safe, loved and cared for, but for far too many, that's not the reality. The effects of enduring childhood abuse and neglect are profound, shaping the adults that kids turn into and often perpetuating the cycle. My guest today is a first generation Australian, raised in a broken home, caught in the crossfire of his mother and father fighting each other and battling...

Have you ever been to a psychologist? I'm seeing one at the moment, and by last count, around 2 million Aussies have seen a health professional for their mental health in the past 12 months. As a society we're becoming much more open talking about mental health and going to therapy, but what actually happens when you go for your first appointment and how does it all go down? My guest today...

Over the next six months we’ll be releasing the first 'Young Blood - Experts Series', 10 episodes of interviews with researchers, psychologists, psychiatrists and authors who can give us the facts and insight we’ve never had before.  If you listen to Young Blood for the stories of every-day blokes, don’t worry! We’ll still be bringing you a new one of those each fortnight, and every week i...

It’s a strange thing to lose someone close to you to suicide and to have that tragedy put you on a path to finding purpose. It’s what happened to me, and it’s also what happened to Varad, whose life has been shaped by the suicide of his friend Michael in university; something he still feels guilty about. Varad’s a youth mentor who facilitates mental health workshops for students through Western Au...

In the aftermath of suicide, there’s questions that will never be answered and things that don’t make sense. Those left behind often blame themselves for something that ultimately wasn’t in their control, a feeling that can endure for years after.

Imagine one minute you're sitting down chatting to your mates, and the next you're knocked unconscious by someone you've never met... That's what happened to Blake on a night out in 2012, and it's had a life-changing impact on the now 32 year old.  Blake's ordeal put him through the ringer physically and mentally, and recently becoming a father himself has given him another...

A comedian, turned artist, turned comedic artist; this guy's story is truly out of the box… He quit stand-up comedy after a decade on the local circuit and unsure what to do with himself, made the unusual decision to hire out a warehouse and start painting… Living on three hours sleep for 6 months, letting his imagination run wild and trying to make his dreams manifest on canvas, Sam Kissajuki...

Jack Brown's world was flipped upside down when his cousin Matty died by suicide. The tragedy leaving him devastated, confused and desperate for a way to numb the pain.  Fortunately, with the love of his friends and family and a drastic change in life direction, he was able to turn it around.  Since 2018, Jack's been one of the people running the trailblazing nationwide mental health chari...

The local barbershop is a place you'll often find men opening up about what's really going on in their lives. Sure, we go for a skin fade and a shave, but many of us also go for a chat; and a barber you'll keep going back to is one who knows how to listen... Grant is one such barber, using the chairs at his shop not just to make a living, but as a safe place for blokes to talk. Grant&#...

Glenn's relationship with gambling and drugs started at a young age and exploded in his twenties. He pumped hundreds of thousands through the pokies, once winning a 50k jackpot, only to lose it all in a matter of months. For more than a decade he lived pay cheque to pay cheque chasing cheap highs, and desperately lacked love and purpose in his life. It was a road that was leading to a sad end,...

It's been 18 months since the last solo episode, and it feels like high time to check-in! In this pod, I rant at length answering all the listener questions sent in to our @youngbloodmensmentalhealth Instagram. Some serious, some not so serious, and overall, hopefully worth your time. Even producer Rory makes a special cameo appearance! Thanks to everyone who got involved and all of you who fo...

Raised by a mother who battled severe illness throughout her life and a dad who was her carer, the pressure took a toll that split up Dale's family, and eventually left him looking after both parents. In recent years he's endured the loss of not only his mother and father, but also a son...stillborn at 28 weeks. Battling with overwhelming stress and anxiety, Dale's done everything he c...

For years, South Australian local legend Marc Ryan aka The Beautiful Bogan, has been using stand-up comedy as a vehicle to open up conversations around mental health in a very special way. Marc is himself a survivor of childhood abuse and battles the black dog day in and day out. He's a dedicated dad, a man who loves and downright Aussie battler who loves nothing more than putting smiles on th...

Living his entire life with no idea he had autism; it was his son's diagnosis that led to his own and a whole new perspective on life. Carter's been on a challenging journey with his mental health dating back to his childhood; and it's a big part of why he cares so much about helping others now. A husband and father to 3 young children with his own podcast centred on parenting and ment...

“When sailors were coming home from a stint on the ocean, they would put their anchor upside down on the front of their boat and that would tell all other ships, get out of our way, we’re going home to our families.”

Growing up with an absent father and an alcoholic, drug abusing mother. Dropping out of school. Becoming a dad and a business owner. Losing his mum to suicide, bringing down a 12-year relationship by self-destructing and finally building himself up stronger than ever... That's Jesse's story in a nutshell, but there's much more to it than that... I guarantee you'll leave this episode feeling more i...

Jesse grew up with an absent father and mother who was a slave to alcoholism and drug abuse. It was a scary and confusing environment to grow up in and has resulted in him spending most of his life feeling on edge, waiting for something to go wrong… While plenty has gone wrong, he’s done everything in his power to make sure even more goes right and today is proudly the devoted parent he never had.

This week's Memorable Moment is a follow up from last week's main episode with Sean Phillip, Founder of The Shaka Project. This clip takes you back to 2021, when Sean was first on the podcast, to share his intense and inspiring origin story, which includes drugs, violence, trouble with the law and miraculously surviving a suicide attempt to go on and do great things.

Sean Phillip is the Founder of The Shaka Project, an increasingly recognisable charity doing big things for mental health in Australia. Sean shared his personal story on the podcast 3 years ago, so this time around we spoke about what life’s been like since then, the highs and lows of working in this space, and our thoughts on where men's mental health is at now. Sean dedicates his days to tra...

Imagine making four separate phone calls to offer an ear and support to people who've just lost a loved one to suicide... That's all in a day's work for Sean, the young founder of The Shaka Project, a national mental health charity that evolved out of his own close call with suicide and recognising Australia's need for a louder mental health conversation.