With Christmas done and dusted and the new year underway we can often find ourselves thinking that we are not ready for all the challenges that the new year may bring as we are still trying to sort out our challenges from last year.
Sometimes it can be difficult navigating our way through life’s ups and downs such as work stresses, having enough money for Christmas, managing the kids during the holidays, marital challenges and weight gain over the Christmas break just to name a few.
These issues can be hard enough to face as a couple or a family, but they are also a challenge for men, because as we all know men are great at keeping all their stresses bottled up inside until they all get too much, I know I have personally been there myself and lived through it. So this blog article is aimed at men, particularly on the Sunshine Coast, as it lists a number of support groups that can help men connect with other men and simply……be men!
Grab Life By The Balls
Grab Life By The Balls is the brainchild of Sam Parker and is described as a proactive and positive men’s mental health movement, making a positive difference before things go pear shaped. The movement encourages blokes to come and catch up with other blokes for a chinwag over a coffee and have a snag at a free BBQ which is held early on Friday mornings at Mooloolaba Beach.
The Grab Life By The Balls movement has since expanded with meetings held in Caloundra, Port Stephens, Sydney, New Castle, Warrnambool and the NSW Central Coast and Sam has found himself at different locations around the country speaking at workplaces.
Links: www.grablifebytheballs.com.au Facebook @grablifebytheballsmovement
Average Joes
Average Joes started in 2018 when two good mates Wayne Taylor and Elliott Krause put a post on social media asking other men to come along to a local pub on the Sunshine Coast on a Wednesday night for a catch up. The gathering was to allow men to get together in a comfortable social setting and let men talk to each other about real and raw things they were facing or going through. The movement focusses on the three core values, being Masculinity, Mentoring and Mateship and has since started holding meetings in the NSW Central Coast, Penrith, Pakistan as well as its original location the Sunshine Coast.
Links: www.averagejoes.net.au Facebook @averagejoes.net.au
Stories of HOPE – Men’s Mental Health Nights
Stories of HOPE was started by Sunshine Coast local Kerrie Atherton as a free monthly event whereby everyday people tell their stories of survival through a life challenging issue. Over the last year Kerrie has run a number of Men’s Mental Health nights on the Sunshine Coast where men have come together in a safe and non-judgmental environment and heard from other men about ‘The issues Men Face’. This year Kerrie is stepping it up and is planning to run a Men’s event every two months with the first one kicking off in late January 2020.
Links: www.storiesofhope.com.au Facebook @StoriesofHOPEAustralia
C.M.B Meetups
C.M.B Meetups is an active movement and is headed up on the Sunshine Coast by Blase Grinner and aims to raise the standard of how men show up in today’s society and also has a focus on reducing men’s suicide. C.M.B stands for Conscious Man Brotherhood and has a range of meet ups on the Sunshine Coast normally around the mid to southern end of the Sunshine Coast with meet ups held on the 3rd Friday of each month.
Links: www.consciousmanbrotherhood.com Facebook @consciousmanbrotherhood
Mr Perfect
Mr Perfect is a men’s mental health group that was started in 2016 and aims to provide all men with a place of support, community and connection, for the good of their mental health. The group has meetings all over the country and in particular at Bribie Island and Caboolture for men that live on the Sunshine Coast. The group provides face-to-face catch ups in the way of BBQ’s and it also has an online forum as well as the normal webpage and Facebook page.
Links: www.mrperfect.org.au Facebook @mrperfectau
Blokepedia
Blokepedia was started by Josh Quambie and is a movement that is passionate about improving the lives of Australian men through opportunities for connection, learning and individual development. Blokepedia has regular forums in Brisbane and around the country with one on the Sunshine Coast in 2019. The forums are both entertaining and educational with some great guest speakers such as Billy Moore, Mark Occhilupo, Matt Elliott and David Schillington just to name a few. Blokepedia also has the backing of Clive Williams PhD who is a Psychologist with over 35 years’ experience who provides some very interesting insights into why we do the things we do.
Links: www.blokepedia.com Facebook @blokepedia
Men’s Shed (Australian Men’s Shed Associtaion)
Men’s Shed is a very well known avenue for men to come together and do a wide range of activities from woodworking, engineering, mechanical work, fixing lawn mowers or making cubby houses. The movement has been a great avenue for more mature men who may have retired or stopped work and simply are not used to sitting at home. The Men’s Shed association is located in most towns and a great way to keep active.
Link: www.mensshed.org
Whilst I have researched as much as possible I am sure there are more men’s groups around the Sunshine Coast that are also providing some great avenues for men to come together and discuss the issues we all face. If you know of some feel free to leave the groups details by way of a comment in this post.
So if you are a man on the Sunshine Coast and looking to connect with other men in a comfortable non-judgmental enviornmentor if you partner is a man and you think he might like to connect with other men then I would encourage you to check out the great forums, movements and groups mentioned in this blog.
Stuart Rawlins
Healthy Mind Healthy Future
Mental Health & Employment | Educator | Speaker | Coach
stuart@healthymindhealthyfuture.com | www.healthymindhealthyfuture.com | @HMHFuture
