Former AFL player and motivational speaker, Glenn Manton will be the guest speaker at next month’s men’s mental health breakfast, the MENtal Brekky.
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Glenn talks frequently about youth issues and building resilience and is a co-founder of the Whitelion charity which works with disengaged youth.
A 2015 The Australian Institute of Family Studies report estimates that one in five Australians annually will experience a mental illness and many of those will have dependent children, of which the men particularly will suffer in silence for fear of being labelled and ostracised.
The MENtal Brekky is on Friday, October 19, at St Patrick’s College OCA pavilion and is a major fundraiser for the Chris Yeung Fund which aims to support students impacted by men’s mental health issues.
The fund was established following the death of St Patrick’s student, Chris Yeung. Fund Chairman Simon Dwyer said Chris’ suicide in 2015 was “completely out of the blue”, despite his having had bipolar disorder.
“His death just threw us. We are the St Alipius of 1975 generation; we’re the mates of the 11 in that class who are no longer with us. It was a line in the sand and we said, “No, no more. It’s time we did something.” Mr Dwyer said they approached St Patrick’s and spoke to the Director of Community Development Paul Nolan, who was “fantastic” and that the fund evolved from there.
“It’s Chris’s legacy and he’d love this. He’d love that we are helping families; that’s the sort of bloke he was.”
“Mental Brekky is our flagship – it’s about awareness. We are trying to broaden the conversation, trying to get people talking about mental health, in the hope it can save someone from going through with a suicide.”
Tickets: http://www.trybooking.com/SVEZ