Participants in Running 4 Resilience’s Wednesday events will spot Menslink volunteers including its education program manager Mark Wadie wearing vests with QR codes offering easy access to the group’s services, pictured here with Dock co-owner Ben Alexander. Photo: Menslink.
A partnership between two Canberra powerhouses in the mental health and wellbeing space has set the stage for a grassroots boost in suicide prevention efforts.
In a huge boon for Running 4 Resilience’s (R4R) suicide-prevention mission, Menslink volunteers now attend the running club’s popular Wednesday night meets, providing a simple way for young men aged 10 to 25 to access the organisation’s mentoring, education and counselling services.
It’s a win-win arrangement, according to Menslink CEO Ben Gathercole.
“We want to lend our expertise and weight to R4R’s goal for the ACT, which is to be suicide-free by 2033,” he said.
“It’s a nuanced issue, with no one simple answer; the complexities and sensitivity around this are enormous. But R4R is ideally placed to put that up as an ideal, while we can come along and provide the services needed to help strive towards that. Whether or not they achieve their goal, our view is any life we save – male, female, young, old – makes the effort worthwhile.
“We want to go to more places where our target audience – young men in need of guidance and the people in their orbit – gather.
“I saw upwards of 300 people at the last R4R Wednesday event, on a cold Canberra night, so that says a lot about their reach.”
R4R was the brainchild of Canberra’s Matt Breen, who found a runner’s high was a powerful tool to lift him up following the loss of his father by suicide and his mother to ovarian cancer.
The initiative that launched in December 2019 with a handful of people has exploded over the past five years to bring together upwards of 600 supporters to some meets.
The trajectory of growth caught organisers by surprise.
“Every week we’re getting new requests to start more runs and walks. Never in our wildest dreams did we think it’d get this big,” Running 4 Resilience founder and co-owner of The Dock Ben Alexander said.
He said R4R’s lofty goals would not be met by one organisation alone.
“We need a community-wide effort with lots of organisations across all sorts of areas and parts of society coming together – and nobody does better work in young male space than Menslink,” Mr Alexander said.
“R4R is trying to make it easier to exercise with friends, but not everyone wants to come for a walk or run. Menslink can reach younger males we can’t connect with. We’re stoked to partner with them.”
At R4R’s Wednesday night events, Menslink volunteers will wear vests with a QR code linking users to all the information they need to access the group’s services.
The collaboration is part of Menslink’s broader push to tap into Canberra’s major initiatives and organisations to expand its reach.
Menslink already enjoys a partnership with the Canberra Raiders and has set its sights on the Master Builders Association and Master Plumbers Association of Canberra.
“We’re proud of our long association with the Canberra Raiders. They do family engagement really well, so it’s a great place for us to be. Part of our approach is to become part of that family environment,” Mr Gathercole said.
“We’ve been focused on schools, but we see collaborations with the ACT’s Master Builders and Master Plumbers associations as a way to capture the young apprentice cohort, which is an important area.
“Now, we have R4R as well. It all helps us towards creating that ripple effect of helping young blokes. The changes we see in their behaviour and attitudes when they work with us, play out in the school environment, at home, at their first jobs and more broadly in the community. It’s good for everyone.”
For more information visit Menslink and Running 4 Resilience.
