In nature, there’s this amazing calming effect.
It disarms the behavior we’re living day in and day out and the stresses that are associated with that.
We have this means to be able to connect with that primal instinct that lives within all of us.
It’s through exploration, not only in our natural world.
It’s also a wonderful metaphor to explore places within ourselves.
It’s just a level playing field when you’re out on your bike or you’re out standing in the river.
It’s all about the experience at that moment.
Everybody’s getting that same experience but they all have a different story and a different background.
There’s certainly a culture within Australian men.
We’re to be resourceful, stoic, strong, and we really need to shift our way of thinking.
I felt a great deal of responsibility to do something with my skill set,
and the things that have helped me with mental health, and create an organization that can help a larger community.
Part of the fabric of the program is bringing nature and exercise together,
but also environments where guys can just be at peace and find new activities that can engage healthy habits.
We built The Fly Program to service a community.
As somebody who has lost a loved one to suicide, sometimes you can’t do it on your own.
I’ve always been a very social person.
But there was a time when my motivation levels just to get up and out of the house were non-existent.
When you have new friendship groups, it’s encouraging.
It certainly brings perspective and reality to what’s going on inside of their headspace.
As men, we can be strong, but we need to understand that being hard is not a good thing.
We can build up so much pressure, but at one point in time, that pressure’s going to go.
Sharing these experiences with people, I certainly feel a great deal of motivation to get out of bed early and be active.
The bike is a great vehicle, a great way, to see the world the world around us.
Fundamentally, exercise has such amazing benefit to our mental health.
A mountain bike trail changes its character all the time; it could be wet one day and dusty another day.
Not every day is perfect, but mountain biking is a real and organic way to be a part of the landscape.
There’s this amazing presence that you feel when you stand in a river and learn to cast a fishing line.
Whether it be a fly line or a lure, it is no different to casting the line of awareness around mental health.
For some people, the dimensions of a fish may reflect whether it’s a successful trip or not.
It’s essentially a bit of a highlight in the whole piece of the story, but it’s really insignificant.
It’s a pretty awesome classroom to bring guys down into these amazing environments.
You see a lot of fear in some people’s eyes.
We can see people bring their guard down.
Those layers disappear really, really fast.
We go into this program alone and we leave with really close friends to whom we can be accountable.
They’re there for us.
If you’re sitting there and you think maybe you’re struggling with something and you haven’t talked,
today’s the day that you talk, because it will decide who you are forever.
There are opportunities for you to seek assistance and to seek support, and also to recover from your mental health disorders.
The work that we’re doing with The Fly Program allows us to talk freely and more openly when we need to.
It’s probably the perfect environment in which to reach out, and we may be able to help you out.