Latest / The R4R Podcast: Road to Zero / Ben Alexander & Matt Breen: an insight into our weekly R4R Chat

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Ben Alexander & Matt Breen: an insight into our weekly R4R Chat · The R4R Podcast: Road to Zero

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At Lonsdale St Studio, we believe in the power of
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storytelling to connect people and create change.
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That's why we're proud to be the production partner for this
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Running for Resilience. Podcast a tonne of singing heaps
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interviews like it was so well done.
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They do do it well yes mate. And yeah, just sadly only get it
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once every 12 years. Yeah, or the World Cup high.
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I'm already building optimism. Going we should go down to the
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MCG for one of the knockout. Matches.
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I'm going to make a thing of it trip.
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To Melbourne because my I can go to Sydney heaps my folks are
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there but I'd love to do a lads trip down to Melbourne for
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rugby. I'm kidding, my kids are old
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enough like. Kiwi Dave, if you're listening,
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Kiwi Dive will sit there. We'll get it.
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All sorts of tickets. I'm kidding.
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I I can't wait. But I guess we'll start now.
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Updates is that we're kind of pulling the curtain back a
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little bit because you and I have a combo every week to sort
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of talk through what Afra is doing, what we can do.
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And this hopefully is going to, you know, bring people into the
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conversation, I reckon, but also show them how the sausage is
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made in a way. And yeah, just bring people
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more, more people on the journey.
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Gun. Showing people sausage.
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Sausage is pretty good mate. I.
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Don't know. Came for a cold morning too.
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So you don't want that. So no.
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But it is it. It's certainly all happening at
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the moment. It is busy, but it's it feels
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like the best kind of busy after all.
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Yeah, I mean, what do you? I don't know mate.
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I'm more interested to hear like what you think things are going
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because you're living down the coast.
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You're not in it every week. You're seeing the messages and
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all letting you come out for board meetings.
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But and like poddies. But you know from when you sent
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that doc the first email to where we are now.
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I mean, we can give people a update.
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I haven't made notes of like how many events we've had to write
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it or type it out. So I guess you sent an email
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asking us to host A1 off run for mental health.
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Yeah, Doc. And we said no as we shed every
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beer and pizza. That was nearly six years ago.
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So now we've got Monday morning, 6:15 AM, Tuesday morning at UC,
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Tuesday evening at the Denman Kitchen, Wednesday morning at
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Saint Claire's, Wednesday lunch at the AFP, and then Wednesday
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evening at the dock. So that's still the biggest one.
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8:30 AM at UC, 10:30 AM at the dock, strolling, 11 AM Torrance
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Primary and then 6:00 PM at the jetty.
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So that's Thursday, so we're at ten, 6:00 AM, two before 10
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Greenway. That's a little quiet one.
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We sort of just started about a month or so ago. 6:15 AM at the
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dock, 11 AM at Canberra Grammar, 5:00 PM at UC, and then nothing
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on Saturday, Park Run day, keep that clear.
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And then Sunday, 3:00 PM at Frankie's.
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And then we've had recovery for resilience every week at Acquist
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Gym, the sister's gym, throw in monthly yoga that's been going
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for a month. And now we had our first sort of
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racket, pickleball for resilience.
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And I know that's a lot. But I'm more keen to hear the
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journey in your mind from when you thought to email the doc and
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reach out to to where we are now.
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I'm more keen to hear your thing because you're sort of yeah,
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viewing it from the coast, viewing it from afar, the growth
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and what what we should do next. Yeah, I, I actually reflect on
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this quite a bit because even from the start it was all pretty
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novel, right when we were getting 20-30 people was like,
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Can you believe this is happening?
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You got 2030 people and then it stepped up again, 60 people.
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Then we got our own drink at the dock, Rum for resilience.
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Resilience. Aren't you in stoked?
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I've still we've still got the photo.
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One of my highlights, yeah, yeah.
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This photo shooter put it up on the head.
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So it's all been novel throughout the entire entirety
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of our Fri. Every step forward has been
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like, I can't believe this. And it's, it went back to the
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start. As soon as I put my story out
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there, heaps of people came out of the woodwork.
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And I think you're the same when you started sharing your story,
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like you shared it in the Canberra Times.
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And I came out of the woodwork to sort of hopefully join
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forces, join stories. But people just want to help.
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And I think one of the things that our Farrar has done really
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well that I'm proud of myself, but also proud of everyone else
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who's been part of it is we've given opportunities to anyone
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who wants to be a part of it to have a crack at whatever they
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want. So all those, all those
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extensions of our for our somebody else has pretty much
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LED it and they've made that version of our for our their own
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version. And it just so that's it's just
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like natural organic growth that I'm seeing from an outsider's
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perspective and it's just. Awesome.
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Well on that and I'd make more notes because I think it's
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important to call out all those people who have come in join
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forces like I I've made notes just so I don't want to forget
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anyone there and I might probably still forgot someone.
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So we had obviously shoot up from the get go and morgues.
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So they've helped launch the Frankie's run shoot up set with
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the Jetty run with Bailey, Jen Cunningham, Maddie Tamil from
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the two Before 10 group. They've been amazing support
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with the Tuesday night run and then helping pilot the Friday
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morning run. Obviously Jess and Rich Peel,
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who we've had on have been yeah, they've been the biggest.
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They've given us probably the biggest nudge to to step things
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up and not get serious. But I think we always take
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pretty serious. But just start looking at our
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for in a different way and we'll formalise.
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Oh no, just having. Yeah, that was the biggest
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change when we became a formal, a formal.
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Charity night with a nudge for that, obviously the crew here,
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Daimow and LON Star Studio helping now?
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Yeah, helping us with the pod. Producer James Producer over in
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the. Dee helping with safety.
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Yeah, I think also her sharing her story was unbelievably
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powerful when she did that last year and then obviously got Lily
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helping out. Lily Mooney.
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I was helping get recess for resonance in a Sinclair's her on
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the potty and also sharing her story, the community forum and
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then helping Danny with like the gala night.
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I mean, Danny Shoe helping with everything, Finance weapon.
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Willie McKay. Melbourne Cup trophy.
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Yeah. Was that Danny?
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Yeah. When we got the Melbourne Cup,
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How about novelty? I mean, the Melbourne Cup
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presented to the winner of the. But I think, I don't think
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anything gets more novel than. That our trophy and they took it
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back to Melbourne. Yeah, yeah.
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So I don't think it's more novel than that.
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But then you had like Reese, like Will McKay and Trish just
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helping out all things safety, like Willie McCoy, just a girl
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came to help out, comes to a safety meeting.
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Next thing he's flagging every lot that's out along the lake,
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flagging it to the government, putting us in touch with
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lawyers. Obviously this pro bono work,
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Trish who's done like she does welfare work, like she then
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reviewed out. So we've got an app for our
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volunteers helping us manage making sure we've got volleys at
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each event. Trish, like reviewed it and and
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helped us put it like a well being check in there.
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So make sure volunteers check in with themselves before they take
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something more onto their plate and sign up for an event.
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You obviously got Sam Mel. Sam and Mel have also helped
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with like documentation and processes.
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You got Jane, Maria and Liz with strolling driving it there.
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Obviously Mama Maria. What a legend.
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Mama Maria. Mama Maria.
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Pip enriched and healthy trading project helping out with
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obviously keeping the yoga going once a month.
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Sorry, guys, we're going a bit longer there.
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This is a bloody long list. And then you can see, well, I
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had to write 1 down. You even got like Darren and
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Sonia from camper racket club who reached out help us do that
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pickleball paddle day, which was incredible.
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And then you've got all the teachers that have helped with
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recess for resilience. I'm pretty, I don't think people
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listeners, we even have heard of recess for resilience, but we're
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in three soon to be 4 schools. Well, Adam Buck, long time after
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our legend helped with Sinclair's Adam Hall.
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Georgie Mack at Grammar, you got Steph O'Neill, who old friend of
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mine from KPMG, she's at Torrance Primary helping us get
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into there. We've got Mr Robson helping us
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get into Forest Primary this Friday.
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My kids won't listen, but that's brought down this school.
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We reached out to his forest primary because my girls and
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they, they did ask my girls go there and they asked, oh dad,
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you know, when's recess, when's come into forest?
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I said oh, never you got. You guys don't we're.
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We're we're obviously went first went to grab my your alma mater
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but yeah that's and we'll probably have yeah that's the
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whole conversation itself. What's happening with recess
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You're Brooke who helped like do a submission on behalf of AFRA
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and to the ACT inquiry to male suicide.
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Brooks don't hate other stuff even like she was just even this
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morning messaged me reached she's reaching out to the
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Medicare mental health services Centre on just talk to them
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about how we handled some messaging in the WhatsApp.
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How we can be better? How we more safe?
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Yeah, and then all the people who help me out, the AFP lease,
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the AFP run on walk on Wednesdays, like Lisa Doyle
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leading there. And then Greg and King Julian,
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you got the UC students helping out on all those UC runs.
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So there's three now. There was one now, 3.
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So locky Jackie Annabelle Mckayla, you've got the interns
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have helped and we've even got you know, my brother even from
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Sydney never comes events helping out doing a lot of the
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editing Well, not the editing, but like all the what did he do?
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He was helping you with the thumbnail and.
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And the timestamps and stamps. So if there's a slip in that,
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it's because he's a busy man at the.
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Moment Yeah, well, he had his third kid so yeah, cut him some
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slap. But like even he's helping the
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big mess stuff and like someone really want to call that bloody
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Timbo Fulton the guy just off his back just build as a whole
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new website keeps doing all the merch.
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He's a weapon A. Weapon and I don't know if I
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missed anyone, I'm sorry, but I was like, I knew we were going
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to have a bit of an update and we just had to.
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I've definitely miss people, Absolutely miss people.
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Who? Well then just all the people
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that add to each event. The friendly face, the welcome
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things of the world. It's an Ellie bloody Ellie
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Thompson. That like rocking up, making
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sure everything like on that Wednesday night, Ben, where's my
10:14
where's the ladder? Ben, where's the milk crate?
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Ben, the speakers are like just keeping us on track.
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It's just an incredible Ellie, if you're listening, we love
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you. And it's just it's as you were
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saying, there's just so many people contributing towards
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trying to make Canberra suicide free in so many different ways.
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That is the bit I just I just at least like mate, look at that.
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It's. And it's massive.
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And that'd only be a. And that'll be a fraction of
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what it'll be in another 12 months time.
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Yeah. So sorry for cheat notes, but
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like, no, no, as you can see, I didn't want to miss anyone.
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Even then, I miss Ellie. I mean how can we miss, forget
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her Love Is All is just is what a rod?
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It is what a rod indeed what that makes me think and what
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we're kind of saying is how much running for resilience mimics
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personal good mental health like, you know, if you have a
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perfect day where you get your exercise and you get good sleep,
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food, social interaction, all that kind of stuff.
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They're repeatable habits that put you in a good place to
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handle stress. Take take advantage of good
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times. At the moment, we've got so many
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people doing what gives them energy for R for R in line
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towards a common goal that just puts keeps putting us in a good
11:35
position to handle a cold Canberra winter, but also handle
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all this momentum that's coming our way.
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People just yeah, I'll I'll do that, I'll do that.
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And it just seems that when we first had that meeting about
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making our for our something more than just a community
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movement was better, not bigger. And everyone that is adding to
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our for our is trying to make it better, and it's just going
12:03
wild. I mean, while we're I've
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forgotten more people like we had Brent 40 and Cow Gates have
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helped host potties. Yeah.
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And have like Murray, he's good. Bruce, like Murray.
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Would have just been released. Yeah, Murray.
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I mean, he's done so much from almost day dot and singing like
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the Super spreader every like here to meet someone.
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You can, like I say, sing during lunch times during the week for
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for like a Tuesday run from like office and everyone.
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He's in there trying to drag people on to our for our events
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and just the Super spreader of the our for our virus.
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Like Oh, sorry, I'm sorry, I just keep thinking of all the
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the people. There's just so many wanting to
12:43
try and contribute in in their own unique way and it.
12:47
And it's got to be that way because if we zoom out to our
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goal, making Canberra suicide free, it's.
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It's a collective, it's going to take camera 100%.
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Yeah. So it's the more people that
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want to contribute to it, the better because that's how it has
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to happen. Everyone taking care of their
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own Patrick Grass, working with the systems for the more serious
13:11
mental health and mental illnesses.
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It just has to be that way. And it's just so good to see it
13:16
in action. People.
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I think that's what yeah, I enjoy most, is just seeing how
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people take it on as their own and use it to improve their
13:28
world around them. I I love seeing it.
13:31
It's yeah. I can't even comprehend where it
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could be if it continues at the trajectory.
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Well, and like even just in the last like few weeks, we've had
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attention of the uni in Canberra, yes, Which one?
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I've had requests from Interstate and multiple requests
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Interstate and even overseas. Yeah, for like after hours to
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start and even last night spoiler, Well, I was in a room
14:00
because of our fraud with the Prime Minister.
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Yeah, first time I've sort of seen our boat.
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And I was in a. Parliamentary Sports Club season
14:08
launch and I was only there because I got invited because of
14:10
our for our so very. It's happening, man.
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It's all happening. And it's just like we said, we
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got the pickleball for resilience day.
14:20
We have the recovery for resilience, but each week, yoga,
14:23
once a month, there's a tonne of at least two or three other
14:26
sports reach out wanting to start like a weekly or sorry
14:29
like a monthly day because we're not trying to get everyone
14:32
running. We never have.
14:33
From the start we've been trying to bring people together, bring
14:36
people together, bring people together.
14:37
And I don't think there's anything a better way to do it
14:40
than doing some exercise, than having a drink after, whether
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it's a water or a beer or a coffee.
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Just doing some exercise and then holding a drink and
14:48
everyone doing it and then holding a drink and having a bit
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of a chat for 1520 minutes after.
14:54
You're not going to make best friends in the first week.
14:57
But if you're doing that. I was chatting to Will Mackay
14:58
about it the other week. It's like Kim and I become
15:00
really good mates now, but it's been just sort of chatting
15:04
5/10/15 minutes once a week, once a fortnight consistently
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for a few years now. We'll eventually become really
15:09
good mates. Add layers to the.
15:12
Yeah, it takes time. And so that I'd like to think,
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you know, we're doing amazing stuff.
15:17
And the other bit that excites me is we could be doing stuff so
15:19
much better. There's a lot of stuff we're not
15:21
doing great. And that's like, I find that
15:25
exciting. Imagine if we sharpen some of
15:27
this stuff up, get even more people involved, get more people
15:31
doing, you know, in their sweet spot.
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And the amazing thing like, and I sort of really learned this
15:36
the hard way in retirement that and there is nothing better than
15:40
being part of something bigger than yourself, you know?
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And I missed it from being the the Brumbies and all being part
15:45
of sports teams to then being on my own, trying to do a start up
15:49
on my own. And.
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It's a bit so good to be part of a community, everyone pushing in
15:56
the same meaningful direction. That's awesome, mate.
15:59
It's awesome. And I just could be more excited
16:01
about what's going to happen by the end of the year in the next
16:04
two or three years, as long as we keep, you know, the suicide
16:07
rate data will come out again in October.
16:09
Yeah. So for 2024.
16:11
So all eyes on that for us. And let's hope continues in the
16:14
direction it's going. And if it's not, we'll just have
16:17
to adjust and and maybe up our game or change our course,
16:21
whatever. But I really might.
16:24
The other thing I'm most proud about is we've never once said
16:26
diversity or like inclusive inclusivity.
16:30
And mate, you look at the board, it's like almost 5050 male,
16:34
female people from all different countries, ages of stages of
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life like, and we've never once tried to push diversity or.
16:43
Because we've made it about shared experience, being human.
16:47
Everyone goes through something and it just brings.
16:49
Age, whatever your socio economic background, whatever
16:52
your sex. And it brings that person out,
16:55
somebody who's been through something which, as we know,
16:58
doesn't discriminate. I yeah, I there's lots of things
17:04
I'm proud of without Farrah. It's, it's funny because I'm not
17:07
sure where we should go with pulling the curtain back on.
17:10
In what regard? On what?
17:12
No, no, on what we talk about first with, with all that's
17:15
happening. But I'll start with when you
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spoke about the, the drink in the hand.
17:20
I, I, I sometimes think about things a bit too deeply.
17:25
And I thought about what is it so good about having that one
17:28
more drink when you're out of friends or a dinner party?
17:31
You want another red wine? And then, yeah, I'll have
17:34
another red wine. It's like it's a commitment to
17:36
staying at the table for another 30 minutes that I think everyone
17:40
enjoys. It's like, oh, yeah, I'll be
17:42
here for another 30 minutes. I think having the drink in your
17:44
hand. Yeah.
17:44
Whether it's a coffee, whatever it is, it's I'm here until this
17:49
drink's done. And that kind of gives you a bit
17:52
of space to just be in the conversation.
17:56
And there's something simple about it, but I think I've felt
17:59
it at the coffees, I've felt it after the run.
18:02
It's just you're there in the moment.
18:04
You've just enjoyed an experience together, a run or a
18:07
walk, and now you're enjoying the chat together.
18:09
And it's all under the umbrella of a common goal.
18:11
It's like we're here for a similar reason.
18:14
We've got commonalities. How are you like?
18:18
And it doesn't have to be serious.
18:20
It's just just, yeah, people creating experiences together.
18:24
And it just brings this community together.
18:26
And the more it comes together, the stronger it gets.
18:29
I think people then become emboldened to give more because
18:37
they know that people aren't going anywhere.
18:39
It's like people on the board kind of just always holding a
18:41
drink, if that makes sense. It's like people who are part of
18:45
our, for our, there's a high level of trust that, hey, I'm
18:49
here. I might step away for a little
18:51
bit, but I'll always be part of this community.
18:53
And that kind of gives people trust to be themselves, keep
18:57
showing up, do whatever they want in pursuit of a better
19:02
community, in pursuit of the goal.
19:04
It's just. Or just to do something good for
19:06
themselves. Yeah.
19:08
And it's, I think they're, there's something really
19:12
powerful about and I think that's why we've seen it work.
19:15
Every time we've tried to, well, every time we've responded to a
19:19
demand to start a new run, it's. How can we not?
19:24
Why can't we? Yeah, and it and, and the drink
19:27
in the chat after is super important because of that, that
19:31
reason. It just gives people a bit of a
19:35
yeah, trust that people aren't are going to be there and they
19:37
can connect. It's super simple.
19:40
But I, I just, yeah, I'm blown away by it.
19:44
But recess, I mean, that's the new one.
19:48
How did it come about? We got an email from someone at
19:52
grandma who who I knew a friend of mine and just said the email
19:56
said it's like in January and they'll go on.
19:59
We go through waves of like we get all requests in about two or
20:03
three weeks and that sort of goes quiet and then we get all
20:05
Hebrew requests. And this is sort of the when I
20:08
think when everyone comes back from holidays, there's a we've
20:10
got energy feeling good sided for the year.
20:12
We had someone from. Adam Hall and an old teammate of
20:16
Mike Jerry Yanian Otowa old teammate of mine who at grandma,
20:19
they just emailed and I think they were saying something
20:21
about, you know, loving what AFR does And could they I think they
20:27
said something about can we bring grandma to the school like
20:30
down on a Wednesday night? And at that point we were like,
20:32
is the, the board trying to figure out, you know, how are we
20:35
managing, you know, 500 people? Because that the test is we, we
20:38
were growing and we're like, we're just, we're like, oh, can
20:40
we? Handle another thousand we.
20:42
Couldn't, no. And we were like, no, we can't.
20:45
We're doing, we're doing a really good job with safety.
20:48
We can always do better. But I think we're doing, we're
20:50
definitely getting a lot better at managing larger crowds.
20:53
We're trying hard. We're trying buddy out.
20:54
Yeah. And by then we said Oh no, well,
20:58
let's let's catch up and have a chat.
21:00
And so they came down just over a beer just chatting away,
21:03
brainstorming ideas. They're like, well, why don't
21:04
you come up to come up to grammar and we'll do like a
21:09
weekly walk with the students, the the Junior School students.
21:12
So you and I went up. So we spoke at the Junior
21:15
School, spoke at the senior school.
21:17
And yeah, it's just a super simple, it's a 10 minute walk, 1
21:21
recess a week to help. And the goal with the kids, I
21:26
mean, after our school suicide, free Camber.
21:27
But for the re, the goal of recess for resilience is to make
21:30
camber the happiest and healthiest city in the world.
21:33
And we think to do that, we need to exercise with friends and
21:37
check in with each other good habits and that.
21:39
Yeah. And so I, when I was young, knew
21:43
exercise was good for my body, help me manage weight, all that
21:46
stuff. But I never knew how good it was
21:47
for my mind and my nervous system that doing movement and
21:52
doing it with friends, how good that is, like the neurochemicals
21:55
and how good it just makes my nervous system feel.
21:58
I didn't know that. And so I feel really passionate
22:01
about my recess is to try to drill that into kids at a young
22:03
age. And it's kind of the
22:05
preventative. Yeah, because once we get, it's
22:08
a tool. For them to use for.
22:09
Them yeah, for the future. So like hopefully, you know, if
22:12
we're to get Canberra suicide free, we then got to keep it
22:15
suicide free. We don't want suicide rates to
22:16
come back. And I feel if it's kind of a
22:19
zoom out and look at the hour for our strategy, recess is kind
22:22
of the preventative part. That won't make much of a
22:26
difference for the next five years or so, but maybe in 10
22:32
years Tom and those kids in the workforce, they're trying to
22:35
juggle work, they're trying to juggle family life and they're
22:39
just, they don't have time in their week to just play with
22:43
them, play handball with their mates like you do as a kid.
22:45
You've got so much time every day to play with your mates.
22:48
But then when the realities of adult life kick in, hopefully
22:52
the kids know the importance of at least once a week I need to
22:56
go do something with my mates, whatever the sport, whether it's
22:58
rugby. Or if I moved to a new town,
23:00
I've got to join a club. Join a club exactly so that was
23:03
recessed that kind of idea. It's super simple 10 minutes
23:06
once a week. So we got into your alma mater
23:09
Camper Gramma Junior School and it's gone great and then so we
23:15
had no real plan with it. It was just launched and see
23:17
what happens. It went gone great and to that
23:20
term we had some a teacher Steph O'Neill from Torrance primary.
23:24
So yeah, we should we really need this Torrance.
23:28
And so Yep, launched it there. The first one we didn't even
23:32
have a wet weather plan, right. If what happens if it rains?
23:35
So we rock up the torrents. I did I went did a talk at their
23:39
assembly and then rocked up for the first first recess resents
23:43
at Torrance and it was piercing down.
23:45
And so we just went in the assembly hall and played games
23:48
like tips or force things back kind of exactly what we just
23:51
played games and I was like and it was great.
23:54
The kids just for 15 minutes on a wet day, had a bit of a
23:56
runaround in the hall and just kept moving and they just kept
24:01
moving. And well, I was like, wow, like
24:02
we had no wet weather plan. But it, I mean, the school had
24:05
to meet all the school safety school.
24:07
The school's got all their safety cheques and risk
24:10
matrixes. And, and before we launch, they
24:12
have to, you know, this, this, the teachers go through all that
24:14
with the school. So it's all super safe, all
24:17
within the school rules. Yeah, they're really taking it
24:20
on, which is awesome. It's amazing.
24:24
And then so then Adam Buck, who's after IG, Mr Buck got us
24:29
along to Saint Claire's, which is our first cracker senior
24:32
school. And we had Lily Mooney, who
24:35
obviously all the listeners would know she's ex Claire's
24:38
school. So she went along and they had
24:39
the whole school there for the launch.
24:42
It's been school holidays and there's been some wet
24:44
Wednesdays, so it's still in its early days there.
24:46
And then we're about to, as I said before, launch at Forest
24:50
Primary where my girls are, they don't know.
24:51
And hopefully this pod won't be out till August 22.
24:56
Nah, this Friday. OK, Yeah.
24:58
What's the data that Yeah, it'll be after?
24:59
It'll be after. So we'll have launched actually
25:01
at forest property by the time this part is out, which will be
25:05
amazing, so. That's one thing we've.
25:07
Learned and we've had more schools reach out too and we
25:09
haven't even Mark we've done no like because because it's kids
25:14
you can't take you can't just take photos and post on the
25:16
Internet like your kids privacy and Yep.
25:19
So we've only we're lucky Canberra Grammar got approval to
25:22
do Sorry, Canberra times did a story about the grammar launch
25:26
and they were able to get approval for a few photos and
25:29
the parents were all approved blah, blah, blah.
25:31
And I we posted on LinkedIn and I had a few parents reaching and
25:34
we need this in my kids school. And so I guess kind of like R
25:38
for R it was just we just launched 1 and I don't know.
25:44
I don't know what I'm trying to say other than.
25:46
Well, you're making me. Super exciting with and I'm
25:49
like, well, there you go. You know, you're making me think
25:51
about something that for us taught me.
25:54
But also what's working for us is launch, iterate, put it out.
25:59
There safely and then launch. Safely iterate, have a crack,
26:01
and then people come out of the woodwork and it's just as long
26:05
as whatever we're doing, we can continue doing.
26:08
We do it and then people just go, yeah, I want to be part.
26:11
Of and some of the runs aren't getting crazy numbers and that's
26:14
like, that's fine, like. Almost good in a way to have
26:17
that. I mean, should have spoke about
26:19
it on the last. It's great to have those small
26:22
intimate runs that people who may be nervous about big crowds
26:26
or yeah, don't do well in those settings can plug into those
26:31
and, and it's depth of connection that matters.
26:34
And and if, yeah, and even if as well, I guess I was going to say
26:36
was even if we have to just go, OK, that Afra hasn't recessed
26:39
residence, Rafa hasn't worked at this location, that's fine.
26:42
We might put it on pause or we might stop it and review and
26:45
maybe launch again at a later date.
26:47
I mean, so far, everything that started still continuing, but
26:51
there'll come a day when maybe 1 won't.
26:54
Maybe this is just from my own anxieties or whatever, but there
26:56
might come a day where one of the runs we might have to shut
26:58
down just because it's not built momentum and it's a possibility.
27:01
And you don't want the people that volunteers to feel like
27:03
handcuffed too. I've got to turn up every week.
27:06
And you don't want it to become a burden on people.
27:09
And that's what we're so lucky on the Wednesday night.
27:11
I know there's been points over the 5 1/2 years of shooter and
27:14
all that shit. You know, I was really busy.
27:16
We got to get ready for our for our.
27:18
It's busy, yeah. It's busy.
27:19
And yeah, I should, I mean, it should have said on the the
27:21
episode with Kyle and Jess, he's like, it's a lot of work to set
27:24
the pub up for it to make sure it runs smoothly and. 500
27:27
people. Yeah, I want to get all the
27:29
waters ready. And so shooter, yeah, he he said
27:33
Benny, man, I'm fine. There's a lot of work getting
27:34
this ready. I'm like, well I'll make sure
27:35
I'm here every Wednesday now and then.
27:38
Now we've got the volley app and we've like 7 or 8 volleys every
27:42
Wednesday. Rock up.
27:43
Ellie's there before, Beats all of us there.
27:45
She's already filled up most of the waters.
27:46
Or Stevie. Gemara.
27:48
Stevie G or. Mum Stevie G or Mama Maria or
27:51
all this heaps of a Mel sundae like Trisha.
27:56
There's apes, they're filling up the waters and yeah, it's
27:59
actually a breeze. But the doctor has to.
28:02
We got the systems, but we didn't.
28:04
Man, if you'd said to yeah in that email, mate, we're going to
28:08
have systems for filling up water and blah blah blah blah
28:10
blah. What this all just sound sounds
28:14
too much, too much work, but it's just gradually each week
28:19
gotten. We've become more resilient.
28:21
More resilient as a system, as a community, we are more
28:23
resilient. We do know how to, you know, if
28:25
there's lightning, we just, Yep, we just cancel it.
28:27
All good. We just cancel it.
28:28
There's always next week. There's something in it because
28:32
every every time I go through something in life, I get better
28:37
from it. Like it's still hard, but you
28:40
learn through experience that it's going to be OK as long as
28:43
you do these things and as long as the same with anything.
28:46
I think with our Ferraris, like we go through something, we
28:48
learn from it, we get better, we keep iterating and.
28:52
Well, on the weekend, yeah. So we were talking before we
28:54
went a lot about the rugby and the so this will date the
28:57
episode. But the Wallabies lost on the
28:59
weekend of the Lions and Melbourne.
29:00
And I went the night before, went to have dinner at Dean
29:03
Benton, L Brumby's trainer's house.
29:05
And he used to always have these amazing quotes he used to tell
29:09
us at training. And actually here he's got a lot
29:12
of them pinned on the back of on his toilet door and laughing
29:16
about him and he still. Got the times tables, don't you?
29:18
No. But then he, he, I got him, he
29:20
sent me a PDF and he's got a 36 page PDF of all these quotes and
29:24
he's just sort of heard throughout his career and, and
29:26
he had one for adversity. It was smooth sailing.
29:31
Doesn't make skilful sailors. Or is it smooth?
29:34
Smooth conditions don't make skilful sailors.
29:37
And it's like you won't ever get good at dealing with hard things
29:41
or big things if you don't go through it or go through hard
29:45
times or through adversity or have challenges.
29:49
Just you'll never become a person capable of overcoming
29:52
them unless you go through them. I think there's something in it
29:56
too, and starting to enjoy. I guess to keep the analogy
30:01
going, enjoy the storms or there's to an extent, obviously
30:05
not like, oh great, you know, I've gone through this hardship,
30:07
but starting to enjoy, I guess getting out of it.
30:11
You know, as long as you've got your life jacket on, as long as
30:13
you know how to swim, as long as maybe you're wearing a helmet.
30:15
On the what about enjoying like the complaints or the safety,
30:18
like you enjoy having to deal with all that?
30:21
I know there's been times where we never thought we'd have to
30:23
deal with something like this. Or no, it used to stress me out.
30:26
So there were things that stressed me out because I had a
30:29
sense of ownership, I guess of I don't want people to feel that
30:37
way. Like if somebody came and said
30:38
they had a bad time, oh man, I, I don't like, is that because of
30:45
something we did? And you kind of once you've
30:50
realised that you can only do your job as good as you can, you
30:54
can't really control anything beyond that.
30:56
There is a little bit of a separation.
30:58
So it's like, OK, what is what are they saying?
31:01
Is it true? OK, well, we should respond.
31:03
We should be better. But if it's if it's something
31:06
that we couldn't control, like, OK, look, let's try and welcome
31:11
this person as best we can, but let's not make it harder for
31:15
ourselves. But first up, when you encounter
31:17
one of those, it's not it's you take it all.
31:20
On Get Angry Pedestrian or cyclists come in, we've had, you
31:22
know, few of our volleys have had angry cyclists yell at them.
31:26
Yeah, you take it all on board and you you wear it and you're
31:28
like, oh, man, like I've let this person down.
31:31
I've let I've let off, right. Like you wear it, but then you
31:35
work through it and you go, what am I doing?
31:37
Am I doing as best as I can? Am I trying to get better each
31:41
time something like this happened?
31:43
Yes, yes, yes. OK.
31:45
I need to cut myself some slack and look forward towards
31:48
improving this situation. And it's our men.
31:52
Having twin girls definitely helped me enjoy the chaos of
31:56
life a bit more. But then after hours made me so
32:01
much more calm. When anything happens, it's
32:03
like, OK, are the main things OK?
32:05
Is everything like, is everything that is a silver
32:08
bullet, so to say? Are we doing as much as we can
32:11
here? And how can we respond best to
32:14
this? And then as long as you're doing
32:16
the main things and responding as well as you can, it'll be
32:20
what it'll be. And being OK with that chaos,
32:25
Yeah, you become a better sailor.
32:27
It's. Couldn't agree more, but are we
32:31
spreading ourselves too thin? What do you reckon?
32:34
You and me. Oh, just out for in general.
32:36
Are we spreading ourselves too thin?
32:41
I don't think so. I think it's a pendulum.
32:42
I think there are times where we we respond, we get excited.
32:47
I I noticed it the other day when I was getting excited about
32:50
something and I had to remind myself of one life at a time.
32:54
That's what it's, it always has to be.
32:56
So we, you know, there's that pendulum of excitement.
32:58
But no, I think we always try and double down on the nucleus
33:04
of the community, double down on the goal of one person.
33:08
I mean, in this podcast is probably an example.
33:10
We haven't gone out and tried to make it as wider viewing as
33:14
possible. We've really tried to make it
33:17
all about running for resilience and its community, and I think
33:24
better, not bigger, as we found out in that first meeting.
33:27
Before at Murray's house. Yeah Murray's house apartment
33:29
for sure better not bigger was the the slogan that came out of
33:33
that and better event eventually ends up bigger.
33:38
But yeah, you just, I don't think we're spreading ourselves
33:42
too thin. I think we're something we
33:44
always need to be aware of because Gee, Wizards exciting
33:47
and it's easy to it's easy to see opportunities that other
33:52
organisations or other communities have taken and and
33:55
gone, Oh, that looks exciting. Maybe we can do exactly what
33:59
they've done and be in the position that they are and you
34:02
just have to sort of go, OK, maybe.
34:04
But is that what our community needs?
34:07
Is that what's required to help one more person and to put
34:12
ourselves in a position to help more later?
34:15
I think we've got a really good board.
34:17
We've got a really good community that something else
34:20
I'm proud of is whenever something's come up like a
34:23
problem we have to fix, not that they're bad, but you put it into
34:29
the board and they go come back with all this response that is
34:33
just through and through what our for our is.
34:36
And I'm like, yes, how good how good is that?
34:38
That everyone's remembering what it's about and not getting
34:42
carried away with Yeah, the excitement because it is
34:46
exciting. It's easy to go right, let's go
34:48
do this, let's go do that. Let's raise more money.
34:51
Let's it's like, Nah, Nah, it's always smooth.
34:54
Smooth is fast. We got to got to make sure we're
34:58
not spreading ourselves too thin.
34:59
Did you do? You I feel at times all the
35:02
events trying to and I like part of me, I've got to like let go
35:04
and not go to as many. Just fitting everything into
35:08
especially how quickly recess is growing.
35:10
I find that, yeah, I'm just, yeah, really don't want to make
35:15
sure we spread ourselves too thin with that.
35:16
Well, any of our fry really. But it's just, it's growing so
35:20
quickly. I think our and it could grow
35:23
even quicker. It's just that's what I think
35:25
our strategy today. And we're like in something sort
35:28
of this is not against the other charities.
35:30
Remember when you were working at the Snow Foundation, you're
35:32
saying about how you know, well intentioned charities, they,
35:36
they, they raise a lot of money and they all go full time.
35:38
And then, you know, 12 months later, 24 months later, they're
35:41
back fundraising. They're back in place into a
35:43
corner. Yeah, and we never want to do
35:45
that. So we've had to go slowly.
35:47
I don't know what I'm trying to say but I do feel at times feel
35:54
like I'm spreading. We are so especially with the
35:57
recess, I just don't. How do we stop it?
36:02
How do we Yeah, we need more, more people rocking that like I
36:06
just yeah, my only concern is that more people in any of these
36:09
events, it's not just like we set them up and then go, hey,
36:12
here are the keys. You got to run it like after
36:15
needs to not stay involved, but I don't know.
36:19
I just, yeah, personally, I can't keep getting to four yeah,
36:23
recesses every week. And so this is everyone.
36:26
This is like, this is what our normal chat is about.
36:28
Like when Brittany and I chat and catch up, like everything,
36:32
our phone is 99.9% going amazing.
36:34
But you, we have to, you know, be honest about, you know,
36:38
everything's not perfect. And we try and prove safety is
36:40
and, and making sure our communication's clearer and
36:43
we're getting real. We're getting so much better
36:45
every week. But a lot of the getting better
36:47
is by just being honest about where some bits are.
36:50
They're not doing so great. I just think it's yeah, we just
36:54
need to make sure the schools are feeling well supported.
36:57
It just it is crazy how quickly. It can grow.
37:01
It's growing and how we haven't. Well, schools as well, because
37:06
they're taking a lot of the effort on because it's they
37:11
obviously have to look after the kids and it all goes within
37:13
their systems. They've got to make sure it's
37:16
all hunky Dory and we just, we just help them however they
37:19
want. So it's super scalable as many
37:21
schools that want to do it kind of.
37:23
But I guess for boys, I'm saying we need an RFR representative.
37:26
At each to make sure that it doesn't lose its flavour and
37:30
that. We're showing.
37:31
Just show them where we're with you on this journey.
37:33
School. It's not like school.
37:35
Yeah, well, afraid you've set this goal and they're like,
37:38
yeah, we want, we want to help achieve that goal, but it's
37:40
we're going to do it together. So we've got to do those events
37:43
together. Yeah.
37:44
And it's not, you know, they've signed up for it now they've got
37:47
to keep it going every week or whatever.
37:49
And then they feel the pressure of they need having they need
37:52
everyone needs help. That's the whole point of our
37:54
Ferraris to help get people the support they need.
37:56
And then we've got to live that and showing that the people that
37:58
partner with us, the right support.
38:00
We have not done enough to bang on about how incredible the
38:02
partnership with Medicare mental services centre is.
38:05
Like we've hardly hardly touched on that men's had to men's link
38:10
like and then having to carry leasing from Lifeline.
38:12
We're starting to do some more stuff with them in the community
38:15
forum was a was a really good, really amazing night to start
38:19
talking about that stuff. And the the stuff behind Afra,
38:23
behind the events is, is we're trying to connect people with
38:26
the support they need. Most people just need to go for
38:28
a run and do some exercise with friends.
38:30
But then the next set of set of people who are not in a great
38:34
way and they need the right professional support.
38:37
How can we get them in, in through the doors of the
38:39
Medicare Mental Health Services Centre into that system, which
38:42
will then hopefully connect them to the right professional
38:44
support? Yeah, it's and I feel, and I
38:46
guess what I'm saying, just go recess is growing.
38:49
All these things are growing and we're not even we, I think we
38:52
can do much better of even promoting that pathway into
38:55
Medicare Mental Health Services Centre.
38:56
So how do we better not be steep, keep growing.
39:00
But but The thing is we keep growing.
39:02
Are we making? I don't, I don't know if we're
39:03
making things better because we are getting bigger.
39:05
We're getting real big real quick.
39:07
Are things getting better? Well, the channel you're you're
39:14
you're saying, man, Dean Benton, focus on the what is it?
39:17
What did he say? Focus on.
39:19
Focus on your lot of things. Focus on your.
39:21
Nutrition and sleep training will take care of itself.
39:24
What? What are what are our fries?
39:25
Nutrition and sleep. Well it's literally the volleys
39:29
and the board. Everyone modelling incredible
39:33
self care. Yeah, so.
39:34
And then we will. And then as a board, as a
39:36
community, as volunteers, we'll have energy to manage the
39:39
stresses in our lives so that we'll have time and energy to go
39:43
and help with these, all these events like the the engine
39:47
that's fueling all this is the volleys, the peep, the board.
39:50
And we need as much energy coming out of that engine as
39:53
possible. Now the way that will happen is
39:54
if we all as as board members all modelling great self care
39:59
like exemplars of sleep, self compassion, stress management.
40:06
Exercise all that stuff which which we are but.
40:11
I so focus on the volleys and those in the ball.
40:13
The rest will take care of itself in a way.
40:16
But yet it's a it's a balance, right?
40:18
We need to be able to say no to things when it's not.
40:20
Wrong. When we haven't said no, we've
40:21
hardly said no to a thing. That's something I think about.
40:24
Said no to some things like yeah, but it happens quick.
40:28
That's I guess why it's like we obviously get lots of requests
40:32
and it's. Yeah, yeah.
40:33
Sorry. We have.
40:34
Yep. And it's just.
40:35
We've said not now. So I don't know.
40:37
It's more like a not net well. Because we don't have, we don't
40:40
have the energy to do what you've just been talking about,
40:43
do it justice. You know, we don't just want to
40:45
get people part of the community just for the sake of having them
40:50
part of the community. It's like, no, no, we're doing
40:53
this for a long time. If we want to do whatever you're
40:57
suggesting for a long time, let's try and make it work if we
41:00
can. And yeah.
41:03
And the only way we can do that is if we focus on ourselves so
41:07
that we're in a position to continue doing it and focus on
41:10
the volunteers the same. I, yeah, I it is a balance as
41:15
well. Because I know I guess both,
41:19
especially you, but both you and I, it's easy to sink our teeth
41:22
into a lot because it is fun after ours are a lot of fun.
41:27
And it's a balance of are we pushing too much to make it
41:32
unsustainable, or should we be giving more opportunities to
41:36
others? Is it about the mission or is it
41:37
about having fun? The mission and it's because
41:42
ideally it's not the same people going to the all the runs to
41:48
let's just use recess. So ideally it's not the same
41:50
people going to every recess. It's hopefully people from
41:55
within those communities or in the vicinity of those
41:59
communities that feel connected to that school that want to
42:02
support it because that's the most sustainable somebody who
42:05
who goes. Yeah, this is something I care
42:08
about. I want to I want to help this as
42:11
part of our for our not necessarily I want to help our
42:13
for our and therefore I'll help this.
42:16
It's a more sustainable that way.
42:19
The bottom up approach and. If you're listening and you want
42:23
to help get get involved, give us a message.
42:26
Yeah, because it's almost the best thing about running for
42:32
resilience is when others come to the table and put their own
42:38
flavour on things is when the best things have happened.
42:41
It's just been the most organic way that our for ours developed
42:46
into. I mean, I they're top of mind
42:49
because hopefully they'll be on the podcast soon.
42:51
But when Sunday Sippers did their own version of supporting
42:58
mental health and our for our, it went gangbusters.
43:01
Like it just they raised over 20,000.
43:03
Their whole community got behind them.
43:05
They had hundred, hundred or so people running with Johnny V It
43:09
was just them becoming leaders. And yeah, if we can get more
43:14
like Adam Buck, like Lily with recess, like Adam Hall, like
43:17
people saying, hey, I want to water this patch of grass.
43:22
That's the way it We don't spread ourselves too thin
43:25
because and it'll go slower than usual.
43:28
But it happened. What's the saying?
43:30
You can do more than you think in a year and less than you
43:33
think in a day, or whatever it is.
43:35
No. So you can do less than you
43:36
think in a year, but more than you can think in 10 years or
43:39
something. Something like that.
43:40
So it's. We overestimate how much we can
43:42
do in the short term and estimate how much we can do in
43:44
the long term. And if we trust the process of
43:46
looking after ourselves, looking after the volunteers that it'll,
43:51
it'll start snowballing. Well, and one thing that's
43:52
helping I think with that is Timbo set up that communities of
43:56
resilience and the WhatsApp. So there's all these different
43:59
like just chat groups about different topics.
44:01
So rugby for resilience is that's one of the more active
44:04
chats. Been active.
44:05
Recently active lately, but we started recently started long
44:09
time we had writing for resilience that's gone quiet
44:11
love to get that going again because I think a part of great
44:14
self care is journaling writing expressing yourself on paper.
44:18
No, you agree. And the other one I've been
44:23
really excited about some has been the sleeping for
44:25
resilience. I know you laugh, man.
44:27
I bang on about it, but though everything more than getting
44:32
everyone exercising. If we go to all community
44:33
sleeping well I think that's the number one thing that would lead
44:37
to suicide free Canberra is if everyone in Canberra could get a
44:40
good night's sleep. Because there's a lot of things
44:41
that feed into it. Isn't so many things.
44:43
I know it sounds simple, but bloody hard if you've got all
44:46
these habits and you don't understand the science behind
44:48
sleep. And that's something I really,
44:51
especially next year, really want to really push that chat.
44:54
And it's been good. People have been sharing tips.
44:56
A couple of people thought perhaps said, look, I'm not
44:57
sleeping well. Anyone got any ideas?
45:00
And the hard thing is it's I can say, look, these are the things
45:03
I do. I have my sleep tracker, blah,
45:05
blah, blah. But we're all unique and it's
45:07
all going to, yeah, people have got to figure things out for
45:09
themselves. What are the, they've got to
45:10
experiment. They've got to try, try things
45:13
and then go, I slipped a bit better if I did that, all right.
45:15
And then try and bed that in as a habit.
45:16
And but there's many ways like I think honest, yeah, if we can
45:20
get that. Well, it's an environment
45:22
started to test. Yeah.
45:24
And or a safe space to try things and open up and share.
45:27
And I think the thing we actually probably do the best is
45:28
we've created an environment where people can be themselves
45:31
and not and put their hand, yeah, I'm not feeling great or
45:34
I'm struggling. And then hopefully when they can
45:36
connect them with people who also struggling or have
45:39
struggled in that way. And then it's that I mean,
45:42
experts and professionals have their place, but also that
45:45
what's it's not peer to peer, but like, what's the word like
45:49
lived experience, sort of sharing.
45:52
If we can like Lily sharing, opening up about an eating
45:56
disorder. And then I no doubt she'll be
45:58
able to help other people in the community with eating disorders
46:00
just just by her sharing her story and how her family.
46:02
This is what I did is what I went through and by and.
46:05
It won't be exactly the same for you, but here's some rough.
46:08
But at the very least forward, you're not alone.
46:11
And that's like a huge one. And then just saying, yeah,
46:14
rough path forward and somebody on the side.
46:16
I I think that's the other thing is after hours become and the
46:21
way we can keep doing it, we do it through this podcast, is
46:25
we're giving people chances to be themselves, but also speak on
46:29
behalf of running for resilience because that is there's you
46:35
think about it. So you go to the top, let's just
46:36
go top, let's go government and then you got charities and then
46:39
they all do a really important part in helping save people from
46:43
suicide and helping people be happy.
46:46
But then on the bottom of the pyramid you got, well, let's
46:48
just say 440,000 Canberrants. There's different perspectives
46:52
coming from all we're going to say all need to see all sides of
46:55
the Rubik's Cube to find the way to a suicide free camera.
47:01
And these little communities, this podcast, the the rag,
47:05
they're opportunities for people to share their perspective to
47:10
either just help themselves, help somebody else, but also
47:12
then add to this view of the landscape that we're going to
47:16
need to find our next step. Like we kind of know where we're
47:19
going at the moment. We've got a good, we know the
47:21
mountains over there. The forest is over there.
47:23
We know recess, looking after the rounds, looking after the
47:26
volunteers. They're they're our next steps
47:28
in a way. But the more people that share
47:31
their opinions, the more of that forest becomes known to us.
47:34
And it's, it's just like you, you laugh, but the sleep, the
47:40
sleep for resilience, like it's a part of it, you know, and it's
47:43
somebody's perspective that adds to this solution, one life at a
47:47
time. Sleep for resilience.
47:49
There's people that care deeply about, I don't know, gardening,
47:54
gardening, like resilience and it, and it helps them view the
47:57
world, helps them navigate the chaos.
47:59
And it's just different perspectives that all feed into
48:02
this. There's also a little bit of
48:03
subtle peer pressure, like, you know, yeah.
48:06
What do you mean? Well, like, while I find Exxon
48:10
friends so easy, as if I had exercise on my own and it was in
48:13
the morning, I'll just go back to sleep.
48:14
But if my mates are there, I'm like, oh, I don't want to feel
48:16
like an arse and not turn UPS. It's kind of using that peer
48:19
pressure for a positive to do something, to do something good
48:23
for yourself. So we can keep creating these
48:24
little communities, these little environments where we use human
48:28
nature to peer pressure people in the right way.
48:30
That it is not cool to, you know, brag about how little
48:35
sleep you've been getting, that it's actually culturally uncool.
48:38
And it's it's OK if you're not sleeping well, like don't get
48:40
that's, that's totally cool. But that mindset of like, yeah,
48:47
I'm so tough. I haven't slept, I don't sleep
48:49
and I grind away. That mindset's got to die.
48:52
So we create that. I don't know that environment
48:56
where we're using that sort of peer pressure, changing what's
48:59
socially acceptable. Hopefully talking about
49:02
suicide's a big part of that, that people can just.
49:04
It is normal societally to talk about mental health, or about
49:08
yeah yeah or about suicide, or. It's slowly.
49:11
Changing. It's slowly changing what
49:13
society thinks is normal, and hopefully it will be.
49:16
Yeah, we'll better use sort of societal pressure to Nope, my
49:20
pressure's not the right word, but I better know what I'm
49:23
trying to. Yeah.
49:23
No, it's trying to say like making it normal to prioritise
49:27
sleep, prioritise your mental health, be OK opening up,
49:30
getting help. And we're letting the the people
49:35
decide the community decide what what it is that they how they
49:38
want to talk about these things. There'll be times where we get
49:41
it wrong. There'll be times where we get
49:44
it right. But it's it's, it's a pretty,
49:48
like you said, it's pretty wild ride.
49:50
What do you think about this pod the head?
49:51
Like we've been going through all the events like how and
49:54
apologies and we've talked about a bloody lot of stuff this like
49:58
pretty hard to keep up with everything like I found out
50:01
trying to. Update and we've got board on as
50:02
well. Yeah, update the board on
50:04
everything that's happening. So if you've got any questions
50:05
about it that's happening, please get in touch.
50:07
But we've just to zoom in on the pod.
50:10
It'll be up to 8-9 episodes. How This will be 9.
50:14
So how? Yeah.
50:15
How have you felt it's gone How? I mean, Dymo and the team are
50:19
unbelievable at Lonsdale Studio. Couldn't be better.
50:22
Couldn't be happier. Like they're just bloody
50:24
legends. How's it gone?
50:27
It's, I think it's going really well.
50:28
It can, we need to improve from our end.
50:31
That is, it started because of, well, if you go back, the meet
50:36
the runners, the little questionnaire that we had just
50:39
opened the open the door a little bit to let people know
50:42
that struggle was normal, started that conversation.
50:45
Then we got guest articles. So people going in a bit deeper
50:49
and revisiting old, old questionnaires of people who did
50:53
it before we just started to get to know our community better.
50:56
And I don't know about you, but it brought me closer to everyone
51:01
that was in it, just knowing a bit more about them.
51:04
And I think that strengthened the community because there's
51:07
something to say or all the unspoken conversations.
51:11
It's like when you're at off, right?
51:13
There's almost like a head nod of we're here for similar
51:15
reasons. And there's even more of a head
51:17
nod if you know that somebody's been through something similar.
51:20
It's just this unspoken connection and it just creates
51:23
this strong community. And so the podcast was hopefully
51:27
going to be the extension of that even deeper connection, but
51:32
also giving people an opportunity to, yes, speak on
51:35
behalf of our for our on what they think is important.
51:40
And so far I think we've tried to do that with the different
51:43
hosts, different, different guests, but that that's in my
51:48
mind, it's like we're pouring fuel on the white hot part of
51:51
the fire, not trying to spread the fire too quickly.
51:54
We're just trying to get it super hot where, where, where
51:58
the fire is and just, and it'll take care of itself.
52:03
You know, for example, we got probably not getting as many
52:07
views as what some people might think you need as a starting
52:12
podcast, But the average watch rate is like 25% of the podcast.
52:18
It's like 15 to 20 minutes of of an hour episodes is the average
52:24
watch rate to me is. That where?
52:26
Where is that rank? Hiring is pretty hot because to
52:29
me that means that at any given time there is probably about 40
52:34
to 60 people that have watched an episode in its entirety,
52:39
entirety. And if you put that in
52:41
perspective of that and our for our event, if 25% of people 40
52:47
to 60 of on a Wednesday night at the moment have watched an
52:49
entire episode. Are they 9 weeks in or whatever?
52:53
Yeah, what that does for connection is pretty amazing,
52:59
and what that does for ripple effects is even better.
53:01
I mean, Lily got 100 to 150 messages from her community
53:06
after her podcast. That's a ripple.
53:08
That's some people becoming aware of her struggle, what she
53:11
did about it, and someone within that community might be able to
53:15
help somebody else after you and Rich speaking where Rich was
53:19
talking about people's forehead and knowing when to ask.
53:23
You know, I still, I still can't.
53:24
I know what he was can't spotted in it.
53:26
It's a, it's a like when you're sitting across and you can just
53:29
tell that something's not right. It's the IT prompted, I think,
53:33
three or four people to. Go check in with some people,
53:35
definitely. That's what we're after.
53:38
That depth of connection, that ripple effect that happens from
53:42
these conversations is somebody really, because I think there's
53:46
something so rich is part of the community.
53:49
When somebody listens to the podcast, they give his voice
53:52
more respect because he's part of the the same team.
53:56
And it's like, even if he's saying something that's
53:58
different to what you might think because we're on the same
54:03
team, I'm going to give you more leash than I see someone in the
54:07
news. It's like, ah, it's not what I
54:09
think. I'm not, yeah, I'm not going to
54:10
listen. But because it's there, it's
54:11
like, OK, I'll think about that a bit more and take it on the
54:15
ripple effect. And I just think that depth is
54:19
what we're aiming for. And we're seeing signs already
54:23
that it is what we're getting. And I wonder where it's going to
54:26
go with all the different hosts that we could have and different
54:31
guests from within our community.
54:32
There'll be some great stories that'll come out of it.
54:34
Will you ask Lily? There's anyone in the world you
54:37
could get on? Who would you get on?
54:40
Who would I get on Gee whiz? We'll get not the rock.
54:51
No, no, no, not the rock. No, he's not what he used to be.
54:55
Maybe I'll put it out in the world and we'll see.
54:57
I still need to figure it out. But maybe Shannon, my sister
55:00
would be. That was the the name that
55:04
popped into my head just then. So go on with the gut.
55:07
I think sometimes you got to, yeah, lead by example.
55:11
And I would be nervous about it. Because, I mean, that's a sign
55:15
you should do it. Yeah.
55:17
Ones that make you nervous. Yeah, can't.
55:20
Can't expect others to do it. Is that, yeah, you can't expect
55:23
people to come on and face their nerves made if you can.
55:26
Yeah, no, no. And we'll see where that put it
55:29
out in the world. We'll see where that goes from
55:31
here. But not not communicate.
55:33
I'll leave that to Lily. Can't Shannon get on here?
55:36
Who would you interview? There's a few I'd like, like I'd
55:39
love to see Lily interview her parents, talk about that whole
55:43
share that from a family perspective.
55:45
So I've got young daughters, no eating issues at the moment, but
55:48
like it would just be fascinating to hear her parent,
55:51
her interview her parents. And I've spoken to them a few
55:55
times at Park Run, especially her mum after the episode aired
55:58
the next day at Park Run. And they're really, really proud
56:00
of her. So I think that'd be an amazing
56:01
conversation. So dear, I'd love to hear you
56:04
and Shannon love to get shooter on air chat with shooter this
56:08
you know he's written the right. Shooter's on an open invite.
56:11
I think he wants to interview Kenny Nagus.
56:12
OK, well, yeah, So yeah, I'd love to see that.
56:15
And then like big, I mean, I'd love to get, I'd love to get a
56:22
guy who's been doing some mentoring work with me, Ben
56:25
Hudson, who's like real just to get him on to explain the sort
56:30
of about positive psychology and something that I thought was a
56:33
bit airy fairy. It's all positive thinking, but
56:35
they actually, there's so much science behind it getting people
56:41
from, but most of psychology, traditionally all the funding
56:45
would go in to help people who are suicidal or super depressed
56:48
get them from, you know, 0 feeling a 0 out of 10 to like a
56:52
four or five. And that's kind of like
56:55
languishing. And I think a large part of
56:57
society is around that four or five languishing.
57:00
But the positive psychology is then how do you get people who
57:03
are feeling a four or five out of 10 to feeling A9 or A10?
57:07
And that's, that's positive psychology.
57:10
So most of what we traditionally think psychology is, is getting
57:13
people who are super depressed, super bad way getting them out
57:17
of that and to feeling stable and what we call normal.
57:20
But really they're just languishing, they're not
57:21
thriving. And so he's been the just the
57:24
best person who's explained it to me, helped me apply it large
57:29
parts of my life, challenged a lot of my thinking.
57:32
And I've never had more energy in my life as a result of
57:34
working with him. Like, he's been incredible.
57:36
So Ben, if you're listening, he was at the G with me.
57:39
Ben Squared. Yeah.
57:40
So I'd love to have him on. Love to have a good Senator
57:44
David Pocock. Love to have power on the guys
57:46
do incredible stuff and just love to hear.
57:50
His also afra. Afra remember before he was
57:53
elected? Yep.
57:54
Love to hear his take on. He's been through a lot as a
57:58
kid. Obviously been very open about
58:00
he's had an eating disorder and stuff.
58:03
When you know, they're going through a lot of turmoil with
58:04
the family having to escape Zimbabwe.
58:06
Yep. So he's got a tremendous story
58:08
and he and he plays a huge role. He'll play a huge role, huge
58:10
role. It's all part of Canberra.
58:12
Suicide free. So Powie's Powie's up there and
58:14
hopefully, yeah, hopefully we'll get him on before the end of the
58:16
year. Yeah, I yeah, it's all
58:20
happening. No promises though.
58:22
Powie, I know you're a busy calendar.
58:23
Mate, Yeah, no pressure. Love to have you on mate.
58:27
It is certainly all happening. We're getting up to the hour
58:30
now. But what a ride I bring.
58:34
What a ride I guess. Long may it continue.
58:37
Long may I continue and if anybody has feedback or even
58:42
ideas, if there's prompted inspiration or ways we can do it
58:44
better, we want to hear it because we're not hopefully, I
58:48
don't think we are. I haven't met anyone in AFRA
58:50
that is driven by egos. It's egos in the goal.
58:54
And if what you say is in line with the goal, we want to hear
58:59
it because it that's what that's what we're after.
59:03
But yeah, what a ride. Long may I continue.
59:07
Yeah, who wrote?