Mental health isn't a one-size-fits-all approach.

But at the same time, there has been an increase in the male suicide

rates. It doesn't make sense. But there's a lot of guys that just need to

Everyone's so comfortable having discussions behind a screen. Part

of our ethos is having face-to-face. discussions with people.

It hits different when you're speaking to someone and you're looking right

in their eyes, you can feel their pain, you can sense when someone's uneasy.

This isn't just mental health. Any profession that

can help a bloke be better, that's who we want to work with. Nutritionists,

We aren't a podcast. We are a fucking charity. We've said it

so many fucking times. This is a vessel for us to be able to have conversations and

And we're just a pair of average blokes on a mission to try and be

We're going to speak about all things highs and lows of what it feels like to be a bloke,

plus speak to some legends along the way about what it takes to be a better bloke. Let's

get stuck in. We

are back, and before I start, I want to say happy

I do. This is episode 52, which means 52 weeks.

Yeah. So obviously, right? 52 weeks, that's

a year of doing the podcast. And we essentially waited up

until the podcast was ready to go to launch out the

Yes, because we thought that the

best way that we can possibly get our messaging out is by us

sitting on these couches talking shit between the both of us and

having guests on that we just wanted to hear life stories. And so people

could sort of take inspiration of what others have

been through and maybe put into their everyday

Yeah, having yarn. So, it started with the podcast and then we rolled out the website

and the social pages and all of that. Of course, there was

13 months before that of actually figuring out what we're

going to do with this charity. So, really it's over two years of

the process of Better Bloke, but now it's, it's one year

into doing events, doing podcasts, having conversations. And

like, let's talk about what we've learned. Cause the mission has remained the

same, but how we're doing it, what we see resonates, um,

and, and the actual actions and the programs that we're putting out

there has changed as we've gone into it

Yeah. Every good relationship needs communication and

that's what we're doing right now, even on an anniversary. I

wouldn't like to say that the programs have changed,

like they've evolved maybe, maybe it's just a wording thing because the

programs that we've had in place and always wanted

to deliver have always been, they've always had the same goal. We've

Yeah. Yeah. And that's to be expected. Like it is, like we

said, we're a year in now. Everything that we do

is a hundred percent for what we feel is

the best way to go about who we want to reach. But

So we've done 52 podcasts. I think we're up at about 15 live

events. And then we've done a bunch of other stuff as well

in the online space, created a bunch of resources, spoken

to a lot of people online, um, from the messaging we've,

we've put out. What's been your favorite experience

And I know, like, I know we sort of briefly

discussed this and I said, we wanted to go into this episode, like, super raw

and keep it as authentic as possible but I wasn't expecting

a hard-hitting question like that as to it. I don't think

I could really nail it down into like one specific thing.

I think it's just all the

conversations we've had in person where for so many years I've

had conversations with guys online and obviously like there has

been certain times that we've had conversations in

person whether it's like you're going to a welfare check in

person or all these all these other things that

you just you meet up with members but being

that we're giving boys a space to actually come with the intent to

have conversations that's probably the the one

For me, it's got to be the Northeast hunting experience. And

I think that's because it has all those things you

spoke about wrapped up into one. We went away for multiple days. We

met so many people. There was like 120 people there. So a

lot of conversations with all sorts of walks of life. And it was

out in the bush. So it was sort of, I guess,

isolated from other distractions. And the

longer time frame allowed us to really get stuck in and get to

know these guys. So that's something that's probably

one of the biggest highlights for me that I'd like to do more of.

And then a handful of the conversations we've had

on the podcast that have really resonated

with me and I've been able to take learnings from these people

we're talking to. So standouts to me would probably

be Angry Dad. Yep. Having,

I guess, a dad-type figure and an older dude that's had such a

crazy life and been able to give so much teachings. And

if we're learning, like, it's great for the listeners. So,

Yeah, I'm just trying to think back. I

think I've taken something from every single podcast,

not just the guest episodes, but even just you

and I doing like these solo ones that we do. I think

it's the, and I'm hoping that our listeners are getting

the same thing that I'm getting with a lot of what we discuss.

To others, they may not understand it because they're

not the standard demographic of who we're trying to hit, but

As subtle as it may seem, a lot of these conversations are so

thought-provoking that obviously you need to

be open to doing it, but yeah, I've had a lot of A

lot of self-thoughts and just my way of thinking from

having conversations with you or like listening back when we're doing the, you know,

the finals of, yep, sweet, let's pull the trigger on this and let's

Or another big one is when we decide that we're going to discuss a topic,

So we're, yes, yes, we have to research it.

I research it. But then, so it's kind of like a forced learning

almost. Like we, I didn't find myself reading

a great deal of academia before this project. So,

suddenly I'm diving into learning about all these things. And then we're discussing

them, getting other people's opinions. That in itself is a powerful

Even that, like this is something that I've learnt over this. 12-month

period for me is like what I just said then, like, oh, I

don't study it, I just do it. That's bullshit. So I

put a lot of effort into it, but then I just downplay because

it's, I don't know, it sort of leaves the back door open for you.

So it's like, oh, okay, it's all good. Not my

Let's jump into why we did this project in the first

place. Now there's been a lot of money and

resources poured into mental health in Australia, whether

it be the programs, what's available, and also

just reducing stigma and making the discussion more encouraged.

But at the same time, there has been an increase in the male suicide

rates. Yes. Right? And that's for a number of

factors, but that paradox in itself is

where we find a problem with it. There's something going on

that doesn't sit quite right with us, our background in blokes advice

and dealing with guys. has proven

to us that there's something more there. And when we looked

into it, there's a lot of studies and

research that a gendered approach is appropriate and

different demographics need different language, different tone, different

ways of receiving messages. It's mental health

and healthcare in general isn't a one

size fits all approach. It's not, it

doesn't work like that. So with the Better Bloke Project, that

was a gap we were trying to fill. We were trying to speak to

guys that weren't being served as well as

they could with traditional methods. And

I can safely say with my hand on my heart, we

have done that very well. And like we have said many, many

times, we are not professionals, but what

we are is a bridge to be able to get those guys that previously wouldn't

have done it able to, able to, fuck me, I just fucked

Let's, let's wind it back. Like we've said many times, we

are not professionals. We are just the bridge to

be able to get guys to go and speak to these professionals. By

us using the language that we do and the methods that we do, it, it

just helps sort of bridge that gap because like

you said, like statistics are going up. There's so much money being poured

into sort of mental health and awareness programs. It

doesn't make sense. And I don't know

the reasons as to why, but

I know what we're doing is being received so

well by the majority of guys that

And that's 100% the point, which has been maybe

lost in translation. We're trying to reach a

kind of guy. our guys, the guys that we know

how to speak to. And the way we're doing it,

it's been really good. Um, and like we said at the

start, we've been able to roll out all these events and the podcasts and discussions.

So now it's really a question of refining

that and turning up the volume. So there's

only so much we could do. We obviously started this on the side essentially,

Yeah, this is not our job. No, no. Much to what

So a year in, no one's been paid. We're not those kind of charities.

Everything we've done has been rolled into creating resources, creating

the podcast, hosting barbecues, getting us to

other people's events to speak and meet people. And

that's literally like... everything we've poured

into it has gone into directly helping blokes. So

that's something we will keep doing.

Obviously, we need to scale it. So that's

something we're coming up against now. Guys are asking us, come to

this event, come to this event, talk here, can you please give us this?

How do you better serve these individuals that need help? And

it is getting to that stage now that we do need to do the funding thing. So,

if you are watching and you want to donate, jump on the website. It does help. And

also like we'll look into the corporate sponsors and getting

grants and all those sort of things to really take our

ability to deliver our programs to more people. That's

And I think that's something that's like really, really important to...

it's to both of us, but particularly me is

a lot of people will see this and they'll be like, oh, they're asking for

corporates to come on board. Cause it's like to sponsor the podcast and do it. No,

no, no, no, no, no. We aren't a podcast. We are a

fucking charity. Like people need

to maybe just think that, Hey, you know,

they're a podcast. They're doing this, that night. This is literally,

we've said it so many fucking times. This is a vessel for us to be able to have conversations.

and try and get the message out of what we're trying to do. We are foremost

and solely a charity, a registered

On that, we deliver programs. Should we talk about like some of the stuff that

we have been doing or things that are half done and

we're about to deliver? Yeah, cool. We can. Sweet. So

let's break it down. Charities need programs and we have four programs at

the moment that we're running. So first and foremost is what we started with.

It's a podcast. It serves as a platform where we can have discussions

with each other about topics, but more importantly, bringing on

guests so we can talk to them, like learn about their

life and get some relatability in the learnings. Cause that's been

shown to, be one of the things

Is, is doing it a little bit funny, doing

it in a little bit of an entertainment sense and doing it

from someone that's relatable. They're, they're proven to

I think it's just so important to hear other people's stories. Like we've, we've spoken so

many times about like lived experience and

if someone's telling their story and how they dealt with

it, Other people can't fucking judge at

all because that's their own experience of that

Here we go. It

was a post where I was talking about one of our members that did take

his own life. And there was a comment

section on a post from him with hundreds

of people giving their advice. He had said he was suffering from

depression and everyone put in their two cents. One

of the comments amongst others was he should try the carnivore diet.

Someone on TikTok blew up on that one comment

and said that it was damaging. It was not

proven to help with suicidal ideation and all those

things. And I was thinking about it.

If a guy has had a lived experience where

he, for whatever reason, thinks that helped him, he's

got every right to express that. We're not putting it out there

as gospel textbook truth, but in a thread of

advice from the general population, he's more than

Well, that's the whole point of like, it's exactly the same as that person didn't have to

put a comment on, but they chose to do it. So you can't blow up about someone

Yeah, that's TikTok for you. Program number

two, the Barbecue and Chill. So this is

one we've run quite a lot of them all around the East

Coast, Southeast Queensland area where we get the

Barbecue and Chill. You can talk about what the event is. And we have

We do. So the first one coming up in Melbourne is happening

this month, actually. If you want to find out details,

go to betterblokeproject.org and it will be in the events tab, as

will all the other events that we're going to be putting up. They're going to be on the socials as

well, but anything that you want to see from

us, it is always best going to the website, betterblokeproject.org. So

the whole reason for the community events and like the barbecue and

chill was to get guys off

the screen and in person. So everyone's so comfortable having

discussions behind the screen, typing text out and whatnot. It's

almost as if it's not real. And that was something that we really, part

of our ethos is having face-to-face discussions with people.

As hard as it may be, it hits different when

you're speaking to someone and you're looking right in their eyes. You

can feel their pain. You can sense

After the Ipswich Barbecue and Chill, because we posted that

in a couple of the community groups, I had this lady reach out

to me and she said, hey, I saw this thing you did. Never

heard of us before. Can you talk to

my husband? He's kind of lonely. I'm

like. Sure, sure. Here's my number.

Tell him to call me. He called me up and he was

a bit nervous and stuff. Neither of us really knew what the conversation

was about. But he's like, are you doing it again? Like, I

need to get out. I need to meet people.

And that's literally what it's

for. The guys that do come, he found out about it

after the fax. It was too late. We'll go back and do another one.

But there's a lot of guys that just need to go out and maybe meet some new

people. Maybe they're trying to better themselves and they got to get away from

a friend circle. Maybe they've gone through a breakup and they need

to meet new people to carry on. So community-based

get-togethers, it's a meet-and-greet. It's not a mental health directly event.

No. That's why it's so powerful and that's why we open it up.

Obviously, wives and kids, everyone's welcome. It's about

And I think it's about even Like the

whole purpose behind it being open for wives and kids is,

we've said time and time again, is that we are

men ourselves. We understand that. The last thing you want to do

is actually take time to spend by yourself, leaving

the family at home to go out and do what you think may benefit you.

So we've made this a full family-friendly event so that you can go, hey, all

right, we'll take the wife, we'll take the kids, we'll take myself. A

lot of the time, the kids end up just all running around playing together. So you've got

these bonds getting made between the kids. You've got the wives. They all sit

together. You've got the guys, they all talk together and you've got

like these three little communities all

starting from this one idea that, hey, let's

just get together and meet in person. And it's really,

Program number three is our mental health seminars

or let's extend that all sorts of wellbeing seminars.

The first one we did was a mental health pathways event. We got in a clinical

psychologist to teach guys how to better access mental

health care. The plan for this is really connecting real

professionals with our community in sort of

a casual seminar type thing. Come

in, we're going to have a bit of a chat for an hour or two. And

that's something we're obviously needing to work with more professionals on

to be able to deliver. But that's one of

And this comes back to that whole thing of what I said before, we

aren't professionals ourselves. We are purely the bridge.

that will link the professionals with those that need it. And

by us doing so in a casual manner, like a lot of the time guys don't

want to go see a professional because it's fucking daunting. Like I

know, you know, everyone knows who

needs to go and see a professional that it's fucking scary. But if

we can make it a little bit more comfortable that someone can go and speak to

someone in a casual environment that they're not feeling That

threatened feeling, they're more inclined to actually go and do it.

And to do it around people. And I want to extend that this isn't

just mental health. Our theory with Better Bloke is if

you take five steps back from the core issue... ...and

start improving some of those other elements of life... ...you're

going to end up a better bloke. So it'd be professionals like

nutritionists, even family lawyers, any... any

profession that can help a bloke be better, that's

who we want to work with. So if there's any like in particular that

you find of interest, let us know, like send us a message what

Yeah. And likewise, like if you are a professional and you want to help what we're

doing, obviously it's going to help you by getting you out

Program number four is one of the bigger ones that

we chose to tackle. It is important. It's sort of workplace

training, you could call it. It's a bit of a stale term, but

making yourself present in the workplace to,

I guess, discuss some different strategies guys can use for dealing with

themselves, their workmates, to make their

This has been a thorn in my side just because it

has been something that like I'll

come back and forth from and I'll work on it and I'll do this and this and

this. And then I'll look at it in an overall picture. And

we've said it so many times that like we critique ourselves so

hard. And it's something that I feel is so important because

guys spend most of their time at work. You need to.

I just feel

like it's the best place to speak to a lot of these guys where they're

in their environment, whether they like work or not, they're going to fucking be

there. But yeah. It

makes me nervous about this one just because I know what

it means to me. And I know the importance of this one. It's coming. It's

So they're the four programs. Obviously we do other bits

and pieces. We want to get more resources sort of developed and

out there. We've got to work with some professionals on getting them done. But

there's a whole bunch of exciting stuff happening for Better Bloke. And

before we round it out, I just want to give you props. because

you've taken on board some of these things we're talking about and

the improvement that you've made as a person, especially

it comes out physically, it looks physically, but

the way you're able to communicate and the thought

you're putting into things and then getting it back out through your mouth has

been an extraordinary change in the last year. So

Oh, thanks, man. Yeah. Look, and I will say

Yeah, no, no. If, if I didn't want to

compliment, I'm not the type that will just throw a compliment out there. I

think everyone should know that by now. But you

between the both of us, most people would have looked at us

to and compared us and gone like, yeah, Matt is so emotionally intelligent. I

think you put that across that you were, but you have actually

become a lot more emotionally intelligent, I feel, than

Well, like I said before, it's, it's sort of forced me

into learning about things. Like you've

held yourself more accountable. Like pretty much after we spoke to fight dietitian,

you're like, all right, I'm going to get my shit together. And then you've got the

boxing fight coming up as well, which is giving you a catalyst

of change. A lot of my change has

been how deep I think about these topics

Yeah, when you're researching something, you can actually tell that you

put yourself in the position of how it's going

Yeah, definitely. And yeah, that's

been great for me. That's been great for my relationships. And I

I mean, no one's ever gonna be a finished work. And that's

our whole messaging. It's just be better. Don't

Be better, cool. So on that note,

as we've said, jump onto betterblogproject.org. We got

all the information on there from the upcoming events to all the

past podcasts, the great discussions we've had. If you do believe in

what we're doing and do wanna support us, help and roll out this, mission

to more people and just supporting the cause of fucking off suicide

as the leading cause of death for Aussie blokes, drop

us a donation. If you're feeling really generous, hit the recurring button

and you could just put five bucks a week, a fortnight, anything would

help. What else? You can find us on

You can find us on socials, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Facebook,

wherever else you want to find us. Don't forget to head to thebetterblokeproject.org.

Don't forget to head to the betterblokeproject.org website. Like Maddie said,

if you are a business and you do want to get involved with supporting the charity, we

are more than happy to talk to you. Remembering we are not just a podcast. I

cannot reiterate that enough. We are a charity. Likewise,

if you're a professional and you want to offer maybe

some help to us, we are never going to say no to anyone helping

us if we can help out more blokes. And that is the whole core

behind what we're trying to do. I think that pretty

I know. Oh, it's not the 52nd, we made you do one. Oh,

I did have to do one once? Yeah, I think, yeah. 51st time then,

hit us with it. 51st. As always, be

It does, doesn't it? Sounds like we're a year old now. Look

at us go. Proud of you. Proud

of you. Thanks for tuning into today's episode of Better Bloke. If you got anything out

If you want to learn more about everything we're doing, head to the description, hit

the links and follow us on the socials. If you want to learn more about the project,