International Men’s Day Forum
Friday 18 November 2022
The International Men’s Day Forum was held in Darwin in 2020 and 2021. This is now the largest forum celebrating men on this date in the country and was the 2022 NT Finalist for the Australian Men’s Health Awards for Leadership.
Around 250 Territory men aged 16 – 80+ attend this event from a range of diverse cultures and industry. The theme for 2022 is Mateship and a series of discussions around suicide prevention, leadership, alcoholism, remote engagement, financial support and family matters will be discussed at this forum.
Details
Program
Tickets are $220 each or a Table of 8 for $1600
See more information about the event in the below PDF.
Special Guests
Ed and Dan met on a building site in the Northern Territory back in 2014 and became great friends.
Towards the end of 2016, Dan was floored by the news that one of his best mates back in Brisbane had tragically and unexpectedly taken his own life. It was the first time Dan had been affected by suicide.
TradeMutt came about in the confusing but reflective period following what happened in 2016 where two Aussie guys got up and did something following tragedy. TradeMutt is an Australian Workwear brand that aims to make tradies and workers of all kinds look and feel great at work, and in doing so, reduce the rate of male suicide in Australia.
The loud and vibrant shirts, each with the slogan on the back ‘This is a Conversation Starter’ act as a catalyst to starting the conversation around mental health in men, a topic that has been hard to approach in the past for blokes, mostly due to the attached stigmas and perceived weakness.
Since inception, TradeMutt has;
- donated more than $3 Million of mental health support
- provided 10,000 Australian tradies with free access to mental health
- funded more than 700 hours of mental health support to Australians each month and;
- provided more than 22,000 hours of disability employment.
In addition to this, Dan and Ed have connected with thousands of Tradies across the country through their social media site MuttHub, TradeMutt radio and Funky Shirt Friday podcasts, transforming the way that blue-collar workers across Australia talk about mental health.
In 2019, TradeMutt was a finalist in the Australian Men’s Health Awards and in July 2022, took out the top gong and was the Australian Me’s Health Award Winner – Best Men’s Mental Health Project.
“We are just tradies who are starting a conversation about mental health.”
Lover of the Territory, and passionate about community voice in decision making, Lauren was elected to Parliament in 2014 and is the youngest Minister in the Territory.
Growing up in the Territory, Minister Moss is particularly focused on improving outcomes for young people and creating more opportunities for them to have a say on the issues that impact on them.
Her community and youth development work has been recognised locally and nationally.
She is also a book lover, nerd and mum to Evie.
International Men’s Day was founded in 1999, in Trinidad and Tobago and did not have any kind of significant international presence. Phil’s struggle with suicide saw a dramatic change in his approach to life and work. He established the ACT Men’s Health & Wellbeing Association, introduced a special development program for men that he still conducts around Australia (in particular in the NT), joined ACT Menslink as a program officer and later as a Board Member.
Phil was frustrated with the absence of a special day for men, young men, and boys to celebrate the positive and valuable contributions they make to our communities and our societies. And at the same time, being involved in helping to meet the new challenges facing themselves, their families and their communities. Phil has presented papers at national and international conferences on men’s health, performance, and wellbeing in the workplace.
Keynotes
Raised in Melbourne Australia, Stuart’s mostly self-employed life has provided its fair share of highs and lows. He has openly shared his personal battle with deep depression and multiple suicide plans. yet Stuart began to realise each time he was almost at the end, that he always found a reason to live.
He developed a toolkit book entitled ‘Just One Reason.’ This book reveals Stuart’s own strategy for beating your inner demons and offers a powerful and very easy solution to a world problem that is getting worse, not better.
Stuart has given his time to share his out of the box thinking and willingness to help others.
Allen fell in love with Indigenous music and culture in the Territory 40 years ago. He will share his experiences and his take on the Territory’s music history and how one trip to the Territory forged new directions he could never have imagined.
Presenters, MC and Wrap Up
Earlier this year, Michael Gunner shocked us all when he choose family over politics and unexpectedly resigned.
He delivered his retirement in line with his budget speech as he wanted to spend more time with his family.
Speaking for the first time outside of his political career, Michael will share his learnings taking on the toughest job in the world – raising kids and being dad to Hudson and Nash and husband to ABC award winning journalist Kristy O’Brien.
A former Northern Territory Police Officer, Nathan shirked the norm and commenced an adult apprenticeship with GTNT in his late 30’s. An award winning apprentice, Nathan continued to challenge himself and took to the stage to try stand up comedy in 2020.
In a few short months he caused numerous snort laughs and became the Raw Comedy Winner for the Northern Territory. He has also organised the “Get out of Darwin” stand up comedy show raising $5,000 for Dolly’s Dream and fundraised for Our Moon Mission through comedy contributing $30,000 to the cause.
Robin has held several senior health executive roles in both South Australia and Queensland across acute and primary health care settings. Robin’s experience spans organisational change, leading health service delivery, large hospital redevelopment projects, developing new partnerships and government liaison.
Robin leads the PHN branch which is focused on considering primary health care needs across the Territory and planning NT PHN’s strategic work to address those local needs. His responsibilities include strategic planning, business relationship management, regional partnerships and portfolio management. Robin holds a Bachelor of Nursing and has also completed the Australian Institute of Company Directors course and participates in a number of national health committees.
Youth Panel
He has been recognised for his efforts and named the GTNT 2021 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student of the Year and Overall Trainee of the Year, the NT’s 2022 Young Achiever of the Year winner and recently announced as our 2023 NT Young Australian of the Year.
He suffers from Rheumatic Heart Disease and has spoken at a number of conferences about his experiences. He is currently working with the Menzies-Ramaciotti Centre and Rheumatic Heart Disease Australia teams and aims to move into mental health to gain more knowledge in health and work towards studying medicine at university.
He moved from Jabiru to Darwin to commence his apprenticeship and in 2020 he was awarded the Aboriginal Apprentice or Trainee of the Year at the GTNT Group Awards. Rodney is a young, proud dad and strives everyday to set a good example, work hard and be a role model to his kids.
Mens Panel
Andrew is the founder and Managing Director of Warton Strategic working in workplace investigations and conflict resolution, and is the former Chief Officer of NTES and former Manager of the AFP in the NT.
Andrew served with the AFP domestically and overseas, is a UN Police veteran and a former Royal Australian Navy Reserve Legal Officer. As a community leader with a passion for suicide prevention, Andrew is the former Chair of Lifeline Top End, the former Chair of Amity Community Services and a founding contributing mentor to Rob de Castella’s ongoing Indigenous Marathon Foundation.
As a father and husband, when not spending time with his family Andrew is co-host of ABC Radio Darwin’s, “Tales from the Tinny” and is currently developing his own life-balance podcast, “The LB-Spot”.
Long term Territorian, Julian has represented a wide range of clients across the Territory championing respectful relationships for family legal matters. On this panel he will outline what men should be critically conscious of in children’s disputes to avoid conflict and also provide some tips on property settlement.
Tony founded the Mortgage Choice franchise in Darwin in 1995 and has won multiple awards within the mortgage industry. He will speak to financial hardships that he often encounters and tips to maintaining financial independence whilst supporting families and the Territory way of life. He will also share some of his personal experiences.
Desmond Campbell is a proud Gurindji man. He has spent much of his career championing anti violence initiatives and contributed to public policy and framework development and implementation around family and domestic violence prevention. Acknowledging that men can also be victim of anti violence, Des offers his expertise and recommendations for support.
Breakout Sessions
He has expanded and diversified the organisation from what was considerably a much smaller business to what it is today, a large dynamic organisation and been instrumental in resurrecting Aboriginal Bush Traders, a café and art and other social enterprise initiatives.
Shaun represents on a number of boards including as Chairperson on the Tourism Top End Board of Management, President of Palmerston Regional Business Association Management Committee and Board Member for NT Shelter.
About this Presentation
Shaun will talk through his experiences acknowledging that they don’t all need to be from a ‘hard knock’ approach. He acknowledges the opportunities he has received and also how he has stepped up to challenges and learnt ‘on his feet’ by just saying yes.
He will provide sound, achievable recommendations that attendees can take with them to enhance their career and seek future promotional opportunities.
Managing Difficult Situations ….and People
While conflict is universal, how we deal with it isn’t. In this workshop, you will be provided with tips and tricks to deal with difficult people and situations in a professional and diligent manner.
The session will seek to identify;
- Who are the difficult people in your life
- Do you contribute to the problem
- Strategies for dealing with different types of people
- Being the difficult person yourself
This session is intended to be interactive and draw from knowledge and experiences of the attendees.
Join for this interactive workshop that will unravel in front of your eyes. You put forward the social issue, identify the barriers and by the end of the session, Stuart presents you with a Business Plan on a page that works and helps Territorians.
This is recommended for service providers and those interested in addressing a particular health or social service issues in the Northern Territory.
She has decades of experience delivering training to clients across the Territory, such as the Northern Territory Police Force and National based organisations, both in the private and public sector.
She is the Co Founder of the award winning Live4Life – a not for profit charity, bringing together rural and regional communities to improve mental health and wellbeing.
About this Workshop
Mental Health conditions in the workplace is costing Australian business $10.9 billion. 9 in 10 people believe mentally healthy workplaces are important, only 5 in 10 people believe their workplace is mentally healthy.
Pauline will provide critical information to enable attendees to better understand and support those with developing mental health issues or those who may be in a crisis.
Attendees will also be encouraged to provide input on what information needs to be incorporated into a MEN’S ONLY Mental Health Training model, with your input guiding the development for roll out in 2023.
Territory - Have a Win
As a student health worker, he began thinking of innovative ways to improve the health and well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth in Australia.
In 2002, he founded the Hoops 4 Health Program using basketball as the medium to engage young people in fitness, health and positive conversations right across the Territory, including in juvenile justice and rehabilitation facilities.
Today it has grown from a program into a health promotion charity based in Darwin, Northern Territory and was the 2022 Winner of the Australian Men’s Health Forum Indigenous Mens Health Award.
The Man Walk is a national initiative that provides an opportunity for men to get together to routinely walk, talk and support each other in a healthy way.
Committed to improving men’s health and supporting community, Jimmy brought this initiative to Darwin.
Every Saturday morning he rallies a crew to walk and encourages men to “Walk, Talk and Support” each other.
This initiative is growing in strength and branching out to other locations across the Territory and won the Northern Territory’s People’s Choice Award for Leadership in the 2022 Australian Men’s Health Awards.
Samuel Weston was at his lowest point when he packed up his life and moved to Darwin to start a cafe. He’d just finished 10 years as a prison officer in Western Australia. Before that, he’d spent six years in the army. He was drinking too much and angry all the time. His relationship with his partner, the mother of his children, was the worst it had ever been.
He now runs Mad Snake Cafe, named to honour those with mental health concerns or who haven’t always fitted in. He provides a safe, friendly place for people to connect with others in the community, in particular veterans.
With 25 years working with communities and not for profits across the country, Brad has taken on the new arm of Ironbark Services, building this social enterprise initiative into a multi million dollar enterprise, going from strength to strength.
With Indigenous employment, training and opportunity at the heart of Ironbark Services, Brad will talk through some of the projects they have implemented and how they continue to successfully recruit, train and retain an Aboriginal workforce.
Sponsors
