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Lift the Load for Mental Health officially starts TODAY. 💪
And we’re pretty pumped to have @nrl_dragons player @jhalangahu getting behind it.
Our Youth Worker Hayden personally dropped off Jacob’s 10kg vest, ready for a pretty huge challenge later this month 50km, in one day. And Jacob will be wearing the vest.
That’s a serious effort, but there’s an even bigger reason behind it.
Lift the Load for Mental Health starts conversations about the weight young men can carry in silence, while raising funds for mentoring programs that give boys and young men safe spaces, trusted youth workers and practical tools for life.
Massive thanks to Jacob for supporting Top Blokes everywhere and joining the Lift the Load community, backing young men’s mental health and using his platform to pay it forward for the next generation of young blokes.
Pumped to have you onboard, mate. Let’s go! 👊
#LiftTheLoad #YoungMensMentalHealth #TopBlokes #mentalhealthmonth
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
“I think I’m the worst in the grade.” That’s what one boy told Vin.
But when Vin got to know him, he saw something very different.
Respectful. Patient. Open. Curious.
Sometimes young people have already decided who they are based on what they’ve been told, how they’ve been treated, or what’s happened at school.
Sometimes they just need a space where someone sees something different in them.
That’s the work Vin sees as a Top Blokes Youth Worker and mentor.
A boy sitting at the back with his head down who slowly joins the group.
A young man who starts sharing what`s going on for him that he normally he would hide.
A Top Blokes graduate who takes what he’s learned and uses it to look out for his mates.
“The influence that the boys in our room have on each other definitely expands out to their community in a really positive way.”
That’s why Vin is lifting the load this October for Mental Health Month because he sees the work and impact every day.
Want to get involved? It`s not too late to join. Head to the link in our bio and help more young men get the space, support and mentoring they need.
#LiftTheLoad #TopBlokes #MensMentalHealth #YouthMentoring #20YearsofTopBlokes
There’s a difference between working in a community and really knowing it.
Keely lives and works in the Illawarra South Coast, right where she mentors young men.
She knows the schools. She knows the community. And, over time, she gets to know the boys too.
Keely says:
“They know themselves better than we ever could.”
So we’re not there to tell them who to be.
We listen. We notice what they’re good at. We back them. And we give them chances to take what they’re learning out into the real world.
Maybe that’s stepping into a leadership role.
Maybe it’s getting involved in a community event.
Maybe it’s simply backing themselves a little more.
And because we’re there for the long haul, we get to see those little things grow.
Plant the seed. Give it some time. See what happens.
That’s what mentoring looks like.
#TopBlokes #YouthMentoring #Illawarra #Community YoungMen
