Tag: suicide
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“I have hope now”: interviewing Sarah Lungu
Sarah Lungu shares her mental health struggles with JC Clapham Sitting down to a conversation with Sarah Lungu, one gets a sense she knows her delicacies very well, yet also wields a steely determination. Even on Zoom during Victoria’s most recent lockdown, Sarah’s resolve is evident – almost tangible. But as Sarah herself shares with…
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Running for mental health
It’s been six years since I did a run of any note. Six years… and during that time I’ve reached the end of the rope and managed to pull myself back, to once again smile. But not everyone is that lucky… Imagine a growing number of men, trained in mental health first aid, who can…
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Like father, like son? No. Not at all.
27 March this year was the last ‘coming-of-age’ milestone of my father’s suicide. He took his own life twenty-one years ago, in 1998. Ordinarily I’m overcome with a sense of dread in the weeks before this annual milestone, but this year, I wasn’t.
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How my father’s suicide helped me to become a ‘real man’
It was Saturday, March 28, 1998, when I received the news that would cast a shadow over the rest of my life. I was 16 years old, and nothing would ever be ‘normal’ as I knew it, again. My dad had killed himself and now, 20 years on, I still have a father-shaped hole in…
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Red Dog, I’m Truly Blue | The Westsider
One of the many shitful things about having a parent who died while I was young is that my kids never knew him. In my case, my dad would never be the ‘Pop’ his father was to me. He’d only ever be a blank, a gap, for them. My father’s suicide when I was 16…
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#YOUCANTALKABOUT suicide | The Westsider
A new suicide prevention education campaign has been launched through a collaboration of leading mental health organisations in Australia. The campaign aims to empower people and increase their confidence when it comes to talking about suicide. It is a collaboration between beyondblue, Black Dog Institute, Everymind, headspace, Lifeline, ReachOut and R U OK?, and in…
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Radio interview: ABC Darwin
ABC Radio Darwin interviewed me about my show HUMPTY DUMPTY DADDY, which I delivered at the Darwin Fringe Festival. I really enjoyed the conversation with the lovely Rebecca McLaren. We spoke about the show, my father’s suicide, and how I talk to my own children about mental health. Here’s the ABC summary and a link…
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19 years ago today, my father hanged himself
Today marks 19 years since my father hanged himself. For more than half of those years, I hated him. Intensely. Fiercely. But now, having been right to the same metaphorical ledge he stood on (but stepped back and resolved never to get there again), I feel desperately sad for him. I miss him. And I…
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Adelaide Fringe 2017. That happened.
As the cool kids say, O.M.G! Adelaide Fringe was something equally wonderful and terrifying. Nothing like I ever thought truly possible, but nearly everything I dared hope, at the same time. I was to do 5 shows of HUMPTY DUMPTY DADDY, my one-person storytelling show about fatherhood, mental health, and storytelling. It’s ultimately the story…
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Yet another father kills themselves and leaves their kids behind
I was heartbroken to read this week that former Wallabies player Dan Vickerman had committed suicide. He was just 37 and leaves behind a wife and two sons. Awful, terrible, tragic, and all the other words of morosity. BeyondBlue, Australia’s national depression and anxiety initiative, says of the 2,500 suicides each year in Australia, 75%…