‘Talk To Your Mates’: The Celebs Talk Men’s Mental Health And Asking For Help
In an open chat with many of the men in camp, the celebs opened up about mental health, and struggling to ask for help.
“Mental health issues and anxiety affect everyone,” Billy said adding, “especially blokes, and we’re no good. We know that. Especially my vintage, the older. We don’t talk to each other.”
Admitting that often, men will check-in with each other but only on a surface level, not admitting if there’s anything actually wrong or that they’re struggling with, Dale, Tom, Billy, Miguel and Ryan each spoke about the experiences they had.
“When you’re asking someone how he is or if he’s got a problem,” Miguel said, “you actually have to listen. Even just you unloading, that’s like a rubbish truck."
“You unload a little bit of rubbish, and... if somebody actually listens to you a little bit, you slowly feel a little bit better and that’s when you can actually move forward,” he said.
Many of the men in camp are supporting charities that focus on mental health and suicide prevention with Billy supporting Beyond Blue and Miguel supporting R U OK?
The cause is close to Billy’s heart who -- before heading into the jungle told 10 daily about how the death of his mate Danny Frawley had affected him.
“We knew he had a couple of issues,” Billy said at the time, “but we had no idea how serious it was. He was a good advocate for Beyond Blue and blokes speaking out.”
In camp, Dale spoke about his own experience seeing a counsellor.
“It felt like the weight of the world was off my shoulders,” Dale said, “all this shi*t that I’d carried around for 30 years, and every time something had gotten worse -- just stacked on, stacked on -- all of a sudden I was able to communicate and didn’t feel embarrassed.”
“As soon as I told especially the younger boys at the footy club… the amount of kids that come to me behind and said thank you so much. No one judged one bit, I was so grateful.”
According to Beyond Blue, in 2018 the rate of suicide in men was three times higher than in women. On average in 2018 6.3 men in Australia died by suicide every day, and men were far less likely to seek help when struggling with mental health.
If you need help in a crisis, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. For further information about depression contact Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 or talk to your GP, local health professional or someone you trust.
