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Mates, Meal and Mental Health

Sunday 20 June 2021, 10.45am - 4.00pm

Dress in your best LOUD shirt and join us for a mental health workshop and lunch.

We have a great line up of speakers and activities for you, followed by comedy by The Beautiful Bogan.

So grab your mates and your best Loud shirt and make your way down to hear from;

Zane Kirkwood is a former SANFL player league for the Sturt Football Club. He has captained Sturt to consecutive League Premierships in 2016 & 2017. Zane has also previously opened up to the public, speaking about his own mental health journey. In 2019 Zane rode his bike, rode his skateboard and ran from Perth to Adelaide to raise funds for Mental Health research in conjunction with Breakthrough Mental Health Research Foundation.

Jeremy Edwards was born and raised in Whyalla South Australia.Jeremy coasted through life with the “pull your head in” attitude and never really dealt with any emotional issues he was facing at the time. A couple of years ago, this attitude finally came to a screeching stop with Jeremy’s depression taking over and getting over it was not an option anymore. This had to be assessed and tackled head on. Jeremy is now a strong advocate for men speaking up about issues they may have. Through this process of tackling mental health INATT was formed. Started by a group of males in Whyalla INATT continues to support males, while also running interactive workshops for businesses and sporting clubs throughout South Australia and even some interstate talks. Jeremy is a key spokesperson for INATT while also running his own consultation business. He tells his powerful story of overcoming his dark days and suicidal ideation. Through this he shares the tools and steps he took to recover, all while reducing stigma associated with mental health.

Marc Ryan is an Adelaide Comedian better know as The Beautiful Bogan; he has been performing stand up comedy around Australia for the last 10 years. Marc received 4.5 star reviews from Adelaide fringe shows he has written, and has performed along side the likes of Wil Anderson, Adam Hills, Dave Hughes, Fiona O’Laughlin plus he toured New Zealand as the support act for American comedian Kevin Tate.However, over the last 4 years Marc has been a mission to use his lived experience of mental illness (PTSD, Depression and Anxiety); he created his own epic tour “The Beautiful Bogan vs The Black Dog” which entailed 30 gigs in 30 days, from mining camps, to a local church, a boxing gym, a skate ramp and many more crazy locations.All of this was to normalise the conversation around mental health and to let men know that they are not alone in their struggle. In recent times Marc has delivered his message of hope in the face of darkness to drought effected communities on Eyre Peninsula to fire ravaged towns on Kangaroo Island.Marc is not afraid of being vulnerable and opening up about his personal demons if it means he can make another man or woman not feel alone.His mission is to change one life at a time

John Mannion is the Executive Director of Breakthrough Mental Health Research Foundation, which is Australia’s only foundation 100% focused on raising funds to invest in life-changing targeted mental health research.John has worked within the mental health field for over thirty years across clinical, community, and not for profit services and has a passion for driving change and improving the mental health outcomes of our community.As the Executive Director of Breakthrough Mental Health Research Foundation, he decided that he wanted to be a pioneer; to put his expertise at the forefront of driving an enormous change within the mental health arena. He believes that Breakthrough can be the change, investing in research which holds the key to not only understanding what causes mental illness, but to ultimately deliver the answers to prevent it from happening in the first place. John has a strong conviction that our sporting communities provide the perfect vehicle for driving the mental health conversation; they promote a sense of purpose and a sense of belonging - both foundations on which we can build positive mental health and wellbeing.

If you would like to know more contact us on Justyn.rosa@sa.gov.au

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