Prevention isn’t just about changing behaviour. You have to change the conditions that shape it.

Over the past few weeks, Top Blokes has been part of important conversations across Queensland – from the Queensland Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Council and Primary Prevention Symposium to community conversations in Bundaberg.

Our Founder and Managing Director Melissa Abu-Gazaleh also joined a panel hosted by the Women’s Health and Equality Queensland to share what we’ve learned from listening to and working alongside boys and young men.

Prevention starts early. It starts in the conversations boys are having about mateship, relationships, respect, masculinity, pornography and who they want to become.

At Top Blokes, we believe lasting change also means helping schools, communities, services, and systems better understand what young people need to thrive.

Young men tell us every week matters. Their experiences help shape better support. Better prevention. Better conversations. And better decisions about the world around them.

@mattvels, our Regional Coordinator who also sits on the Council, puts it perfectly: "Change happens when communities lead it." We`re pumped to be part of these conversations and help young people`s voices be heard.

#TopBlokes #PrimaryPrevention #SystemsChange #YoungMen #YouthMentoring #HealthyMasculinity …

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Sometimes you don’t realise the impact of something until later.

Seth completed Top Blokes at his local high school.

He still uses what he learned – looking after his mental health, managing his emotions and, importantly, being there for his mates.

Now he’s giving something back.

This October, Seth is taking on Lift the Load for Mental Health, walking 50km in a 10kg weighted vest to help raise funds for Top Blokes.

For Seth, that vest means something.

“The vest represents the load that young men feel from mental health, and it’s something we can take off, but they can’t.”

And one of the biggest things he’s taken from Top Blokes?

Sometimes your mate doesn’t need advice. They just need you to listen.

Now Seth is helping more young men get the same support he did.

Pretty good reason to walk 50km. 💪

Support Seth or find out more about Lift the Load via the link in bio.

#topblokes #lifttheloadchallenge #youngmensmentalhealth #mentoring #payitforward …

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The program was finished. The barbie was on. And the guys were still having a yarn.

Pretty good sign, really.

At our final session with @natural_landscaping_au the guys talked about what had actually stuck with them.

For one, it was understanding his partner’s mental health a little better and thinking about how he could support her.

For another, it was recognising some things in his own behaviour that he’d previously brushed off but now wanted to work on.

There were conversations about masculinity too. They talked about what strength looks like, the expectations men carry, and making a bit more room for things like care and empathy.

Even budgeting got them thinking beyond dollars and cents: where their ideas about money came from, what they actually want from it, and whether their spending matches that.

That`s the bit that takes time. These weren’t conversations we walked in and had on day one.

They came from showing up week after week.

Having a laugh. Getting to know each other. Building trust. Then, slowly, getting into some of the bigger stuff.

That’s why long-term mentoring matters to us. It gives conversations time to grow and gives the guys time to work out what all of this actually means in their own lives. Work. Home. Partners. Mates. Life.

Congrats to our latest Natural Landscaping Top Blokes graduates.

#TopBlokes #WorkplaceWellbeing #YoungMen #WorkplaceCulture …

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