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 Tackling the Challenge project 

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​What is the Tackling the Challenge project?
​

Tackling the Challenge: Talking Local Men’s Health is a project looking to make a lasting and positive impact on local men’s familiarity and interaction of men’s health issues through the telling of local men’s stories of thriving in times of hardship.
Dealing with personal distress, crisis or challenges are things not typically spoken about by men. Tackling the Challenge aims to tell local men’s stories in the hope of tackling the challenge that is addressing the stigma of men speaking up on about their health. This hope is driven by a common goal that the telling of these stories will encourage other men to open a healthy discussion on men’s health as well as seeking any help and treatment they may require.

Why are we doing it?
Increasing numbers of men are experiencing major stressors in their lives which can have an impact on men’s physical, psychological and social health.
The purpose of this project is to encourage other men to talk more openly about the personal problems they may be dealing with and to seek support. Men respond well to the stories of other men. Your story will be one that other men can relate to, is hopeful and encourages men to share their story and seek appropriate help.

How you can help
We are looking for men from the Wingecarribee who are willing to have an open discussion and share their story of recovery from personal distress, crisis or challenges. Our team will go through project details with you and if you are happy to, your story will then be taken by our understanding team members from WHAM and South Western Sydney Local Health District’s Mental Wellbeing team.
These stories will then become part of our aim to drive towards better men’s health outcomes through campaign publications in the local media including newspapers, radio, social media and the web.
Although anonymity cannot be guaranteed, to protect your privacy you are able to elect to use a pseudonym for this purpose.  
Please use the contact details below if you would like to be involved.


For more information or to get involved contact:
Brendan Bennett
Mental Wellbeing Health Promotion Officer
South Western Sydney Local Health District
(02) 9616 4048
[email protected]

Peter Van Dort
Wingecarribee Community Health Centre
(02) 4861 800

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​Andy’s challenging journey to find himself through resilience and recovery
​       Tanya Carabez
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This October is Mental Health Month, with this year’s theme being Share the Journey. 
Andy Davies is one man eager to share his story of resilience and recovery. Working as a mechanic in an industry known for its blokey culture, Andy Davies always thought of himself as the alpha male provider who could down a few schooners and laugh off stressful times without the need to speak about stress or emotions.
So after going through a tough break up, losing a best mate to cancer and working long hours with long travel time, Andy threw himself into the only coping mechanisms he knew – avoiding his home environment with working longer hours. When Andy was at home, he often chose more isolated nights in with alcohol, takeaway and laying on the lounge with the TV.
Getting lost in the resulting fog of anxiety and depression, Andy had started to ‘genuinely not see himself’ and also retreated from friends and family. 
Andy’s neighbours noticed this change in behaviour and used their observations to invite Andy over to share their concerns about his wellbeing. Andy was initially held back by the stigma of speaking up about his mental health, responded defensively and left. 
Luckily Andy’s neighbours wouldn’t let him leave without Lifeline’s number, and after going home and having a good think about the evening’s conversation, he came to the conclusion that he did need to seek help. After calling Lifeline, Andy started making positive changes in his life and being honest with his vulnerabilities to combat his mental health.
He then arranged an appointment with his GP to speak about getting the help he needed. The GP referred him to a counsellor who gave him practical tools to take control of his mental health as well as pointing out that he was not alone, with one in five Australians experiencing a mental health condition in their lifetime.
As Andy began to rebuild his confidence in the months that followed in his recovery journey, he also started to take more time establishing a healthy routine for himself. This included healthier lifestyle choices such as: cutting down alcohol, eating healthily, exercising regularly, getting out into nature, listening to  men’s mental health podcasts, reading and regularly using breathing and muscle relaxation techniques to keep himself in check.
Looking back on it all, Andy now knows that no matter what else, his life has improved due of his experiences and has come to terms with not always having to be strong or independent. He can now recognise the signs when he has been getting off track and uses his experience with his psychologist to take the time to practice self-care. Andy is now in a more supportive work environment and has become a champion for men’s health, mentoring friends and colleagues without feeling the stigma of speaking up about mental health.Andy’s advice to other men is always to ask for help and don’t be too proud to let people know you are struggling.
  • Andy’s story is a part of the Tackling the Challenge Project, a collection of local men’s stories, highlighting men’s strengths, resilience and recovery. If you have a story to share and would like to be a part of the project, please contact Brendan Bennett on [email protected] or on 9616 4048. Further support can be provided by a GP or health professional. You can also contact Lifeline: 13 11 14 www.lifeline.org.au

From Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to a new lease on life
​    Tanya Carabez .

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It started with the click of a pistol. In the moment that followed which felt like an eternity, Matthew Fredericks* ran for his life. It was later found that a bullet had been fired through a window. Matthew was left shaken, but alive.

As a young father working at a boarding school in an idyllic quiet suburban community in the 1990s, Matthew could never have imagined the long journey of trauma and recovery his life was going to take after the events that unfolded on that fateful day.
Being woken up early one morning by the news that there were intruders heading towards the girls’ boarding house, Matthew had no hesitation in putting himself in the face of danger. Before arriving at the boarding house, Matthew learnt the men were armed. Despite this, he calmly approached the intruders and asked them to leave, to protect the almost 300 student boarders. To Matthew’s surprise, the intruders seemed to accept his instructions to leave and headed towards the exit.
As a strategy to watch the intruders leave and not to irritate them, Matthew bent over to do his shoe up as the intruders walked away. Unfortunately, Matthew’s relief was short lived as he heard a clicking sound coming from the men. He looked up and saw a gun pointed at him. The next thing he knew, Matthew was running for his life.
In the days and months that followed the incident, Matthew became increasingly anxious and stressed at work, which was compounded by distress at his employer’s immediate abuse and criticism of Matthew’s brave intervention. He was also under strict instruction to not disclose any details of the events, forcing Matthew to pretend nothing had happened when asked about the incident by staff and students.
Feeling as though the world was on his shoulders each time he returned to work after having time off, Matthew also began to experience physical health issues and intense panic attacks with stroke-like symptoms. These attacks led to a dramatic drop in blood pressure and loss of consciousness with Matthew regularly passing out up to 20 times a day.
Matthew’s daily fight with his mental and physical health caused him to struggle at a job he was previously very good at, leading him to seek further medical help. He was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD, three years after the incident took place. To add to the stress of his situation, his employer then made him redundant.
At home, things weren’t going well either as Matthew’s wife’s behaviour changed; he experienced abuse and untrue allegations and witnessed his wife’s gambling problems while at home trying to focus on his recovery.
Matthew’s wife later left him, and although this brought some relief after the abuse he’d received, it did lead Matthew to reflect on the blur of the past 10 years and the depression and anxiety he had experienced since the incident. With his children now young adults, Matthew reflected on his struggles alone and started to experience severe depression and suicidal thoughts.
When Matthew was at a loss, he took himself straight to the nearest hospital emergency department and later called LifeLine. After doing this, he spoke of his feelings and experiences with his GP and learned of local services he could connect with. These services included a psychologist for Matthew who could provide appropriate support, to work through the strong thoughts and feelings he was experiencing.
As he worked with multiple psychologists over a period of several years, Matthew then tried to simply live life and adjusted his focus to his abilities and strengths prior to the incident, rather than focusing on the trauma.
After gaining weight over the previous 10 years and then coming off anti-depressants, Matthew decided enough was enough and aimed to get back to his original fitness level prior to the incident. Planning to get himself fit enough to play rugby again, a sport he loved, Matthew initially started with 4 sets of 3 sit-ups and push-ups each day for a week. He then worked to build this up over time, adding an additional repetition each week per set until he got to 200 push-ups, 460 sit-ups and 90 chin-ups each day. As Matthew got fitter, he also added new activities to the mix, including regular walking, running, swimming, cycling, motocross and road racing, sailing and kayaking.
After learning from the psychologist how to identify and catch negative thinking and triggers associated with his trauma, the power of sport opened a new avenue for Matthew’s recovery. With his regained fitness and success in rugby, Matthew found he thought less and less of his previous trauma, anxiety and depression and started to think ‘it’s good to be me’ and his thoughts took a positive turn.
With his new found lease of life, Matthew also started to delve deeper into his recovery and started attending a local men’s support group. It was in this group that he was able to openly share his feelings with other men and seek their help and opinions. He was able to identify the connection between his thoughts and behaviours and successfully started to separate his past experiences from his thinking patterns. Matthew’s involvement and enthusiasm eventually led him to co-facilitate the group. This developed into leading the group some weeks - all to help other men in their recovery.
Reflecting on his journey, Matthew came to the realisation that his wellbeing was far more important than any material item, as he identified how strong and caring he was as a person. He also now knew how crucial it was to prioritise his wellbeing to ensure he got the help he needed. Matthew realised there are better things in life to live for, which has allowed him to let go of his stigma. Matthew is now happily remarried and a great father and friend. He is going on to study psychology and hopes to continue to provide strength to help men living with mental illness.
*Names have been changed to protect identities.

- Matthew’s story is a part of the Tackling the Challenge Project, a collection of local men’s stories, highlighting men’s strengths, resilience and recovery. If you have a story to share and would like to be a part of the project, please contact Brendan Bennett on [email protected] or on 9616 4048. Further support can be provided by a GP or health professional. You can also contact Lifeline: 13 11 14

More to life than a diagnosis
Brendan Bennett

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John felt relief when he was told he was unwell and had schizophrenia. There was finally some explanation for the thoughts, feelings and actions he had experienced for so long.
More than ten years previously, John suffered an injury to his shoulder on the job which stopped him from being able to work. Much like other men and women, John’s commitment to work was a big part of his life which brought satisfaction, enjoyment and connection to others but through circumstances beyond his control, this was quickly turned upside down.
Living with chronic pain caused by the injury, John found himself feeling increasingly isolated and lonely in his community with limited opportunities to connect with others. John had a growing sense of feeling unsafe and felt like he was being watched and targeted by his neighbour.
This gradual build-up of pressure gained momentum over two years and John was now feeling overwhelmed, paranoid and no longer comfortable to leave the house.  John was at boiling point; feeling further confined and shut off from his community.
John knew he desperately needed to reach out for help but he didn’t know how or who to turn to. It was the first time in his life that John was experiencing something like this. He was feeling trapped and his mental health was at an all-time low. He knew he needed to reach out.
Luckily for John in this moment of vulnerability, his local real estate agent at a routine inspection saw that he needed a helping hand, expressed concern for his mental wellbeing and called an ambulance.
After John was taken to hospital, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He spent two weeks at an acute hospital-based mental health service that provides a place of safety and treatment for people with acute mental health needs. After the diagnosis, John experienced relief to ‘know that I wasn’t going stupid, that there was something else going on’, he explains.
John was released from hospital with the support of health and community services and he moved to the Southern Highlands to a new living environment with more options for community participation. In the years that followed, John had other visits to mental health services for support and coordination of his goals and needs towards recovery.
Working towards becoming well took hard work but he believes the information provided by his care coordinator and mental health workers was key to the success of his treatment. One therapeutic based course in particular helped John to understand and manage his experiences, to be more present, to reframe and choose new directions to take and to be ‘a lot less paranoid of what’s going on around me’, John explains.
As John navigated his recovery, a major part of this journey was his involvement in the local men’s shed and community gardens - ‘both groups look out for me and they have helped me develop as a person’. At the men’s shed, John was able to meet new people, learn new skills and teach other men woodworking techniques. It is a supportive environment that encourages mateship and members look out for one another. John is also a proud volunteer at the community garden, regularly providing visitor tours, helping with growing orchids and selling plants at the local market.
Looking back on his journey so far, John acknowledges it is better to seek support early and that there is plenty of help out there. He now lives in a welcoming community, with support flowing in both directions, both for John and by John. He wants the community to know,                ‘there is life after a mental health diagnosis’.
John’s story is a part of the Tackling the Challenge Project, a collection of local men’s stories, highlighting men’s strengths, resilience and recovery. If you have a story to share and would like to be a part of the project, please contact Brendan Bennett on [email protected]. Further support can be provided by a GP or health professional. You can also contact Lifeline: 13 11 14 www.lifeline.org.au

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This week from June 10 -16 is National Men's Health Week, with this year's theme Keeping Boys and Men healthy.
Jarrad shares his story of recovery and strength with other young people.  


It was a regular weekend, 13 years ago. Jarrad had played football, washed his car and then set off to visit his sister. On this trip and at just 20 years of age, his life changed forever.

Driving 60km/h over the speed limit, his car veered to the wrong side of the road. Jarrad clipped a power pole and crashed into a tree.


Jarrad was cut free from his tangled car wreck at the crash site and taken by helicopter to Westmead Hospital. He had extensive injuries from the accident and mid-air, he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. Blood stopped pumping to his brain and lungs.

The young man was placed in an induced coma in hospital and spent two weeks in the High Dependency Ward. His parents were told that if he survived, with the injury to his brain he would need 24/7 care for the rest of his life. Jarrad's parents were heartbroken, prepared for the worst and sought guidance from the hospital chaplain.

But Jarrad beat the odds and survived the riskiest days and weeks. He was transferred to Westmead Hospital's Brain Injury Unit which provides comprehensive specialised rehabilitation services to people, from across NSW, with traumatic brain injuries. Rehabilitation was the next step Jarrad had to take if he wanted to return to living a normal life as soon as possible. He jumped right in. "I dared myself to be the best I could be," he said with humility but with a smile from ear to ear.

Jarrad's journey through recovery was tough both physically and emotionally. 


Endless hours and exercises spent re-wiring his brain to perform tasks like walking, eating, reading and writing was a challenging and gruelling slow process.

Jarrad's friends had grown distant. The vulnerability of witnessing one of their mates recovering from a traumatic accident hit close to home, it could have been anyone of them. Jarrad doesn't hold any grudges, "There will always be challenges in life, it comes back to how you deal with them that makes the difference," he said.

His determination to recover through rehabilitation grew stronger from seeing others around him in the Brain Injury Unit achieve small goals over long periods of time. Jarrad's self-belief and motivation was driven internally and supported by professional staff around him.


It enabled him to set his sights further ahead with the mentality of 'every situation that you're faced with, that you enter into, is a situation for you to grow from'.

Jarrad encountered social barriers in the community throughout his rehabilitation. 


RELATED: More to life than a diagnosis - tackling the challenge of schizophrenia

Andy's challenging journey to find himself through resilience and recovery

From Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to a new lease on life

He found that some people stereotype those with brain injuries. He felt like he was being judged and found it hard to meet new people. 


Now, Jarrad uses time in the gym to continue working on improving himself, his recovery and to strengthen social connections with groups of people.

He shines when relaying that family was a pivotal support network in his recovery journey. 


"People are like trees - the leaves on light branches can snap off and fall away, but the people that stay with you forever are your roots," he said.

At the time of Jarrad's accident, he was studying to become an apprentice plumber. When he had reached a point in his recovery where he could study again, his father drove him two hours across Sydney once a week to TAFE so he could complete his final year with the support of his teachers. 


This accomplishment saw Jarrad win a major TAFE award that recognised his efforts, character and study achievements.

Jarrad began telling his story for groups of young people across Sydney as part of the Think Twice program at Westmead Hosptial and for the NSW Brain Injury Speakers Bureau. 


Before the accident, Jarrad was quite shy and didn't do any public speaking. 


He is the opposite now. Full of energy, and charisma. He works for Mittagong RSL welcoming the community on their arrival using these same skills.

Since the accident, Jarrad's mindset is one of positivity, to 'do the best he can', he explains. 


In 2013 Jarrad became the Ambassador of the Drive to Survive® program. He regularly talks to school students and mature aged drivers about what he went through. 


He makes no apologies for his hard hitting story, with the hope he will encourage drivers to be safe while driving on the road.


Jarrad also tells his motivational story to corporate clients of his sheer determination and the teamwork that helped him get out of Hospital.

Working with motoring expert Ian Luff has helped Jarrad develop his public speaking ability and refine his talks that are designed to inspire or motivate people in their own lives, to either achieve more or be safer while driving.

Jarrad wants to motivate, encourage and inspire others, especially men. He wants men no matter what they are going through, to reach out and seek help. 


"There is nothing to be ashamed of, it just means they may need some extra help to get back to strength," he said

He sums up his journey so far with, 'life is a like a maze with hard turns, and road blocks. You have to accept it and roll with it. I might have limitations, but that won't stop me'.

To have Jarrad inspire your team contact Ian Luff Motivation Australia on 9622 5425.

Jarrad's story is a part of the Tackling the Challenge Project, a collection of local men's stories, highlighting men's strengths, resilience and recovery. If you have a story to share and would like to be a part of the project, please contact Brendan Bennett on [email protected]. Further support can be provided by a GP or health professional. You can also contact Lifeline: 13 11 14 www.lifeline.org.au

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