What We Do Works

what we do works

impact survey results

Increasing young men’s resilience improves their overall wellbeing and their ability to grow and get through the tougher times in life. We also know that it improves relationships – with their family, with their partner, and with their classmates or work colleagues.

We know that the work we do in helping young guys has a ripple effect on the community; it contributes to reducing crime, family violence, anti-social behaviour, isolation – even suicide. It has never been more important to increase the resilience of our young people than it is right now.

Every six months we survey teachers, principals, parents, and young guys (over 18) on the impact our programs have had on everyone involved, whether directly or indirectly.

We then produce a report that outlines the impact of our programs

We assess impacts on a five-point scale from very negative to very positive across sixteen personal and social impact areas, as well as asking them about their general satisfaction with the program and whether they would recommend it to others.

Where respondents have included qualitative feedback or general comments, we have included that as well. This report includes highlights of the responses, as well as the summarised data tables further down. We will continue to publish this report on a six-monthly basis.

Download latest report (Jan-Jun 2023)

Hear from young guys

Menslink Stories

What we do works.  The proof is in the lives of the young guys that we help to change (and by extension the lives of their families & friends).  These are their stories, we just become an important chapter for them as they are writing it.

will and debi’s story

Will and Debi have a story. A story of building a family, a story of struggles, a story of support, a story of change. A story that for this family includes Menslink. Every families story is different, and important. The story of young boys becoming good men is one worth telling. Will and Debi are one of these stories.

james and craig’s story

In this video, James and Craig share their stories about how Menslink programs helped them get through adolescence, and the value of having a strong mentor.

Xavier’s Story

Xavier Duffy met Menslink at a time of real need in his life. He’d hit rock bottom, suffered some bad luck and was left to make some really hard choices.  He was in a very dark place.

Menslink counselling helped him out of that dark place. Seven years later, he’s kicking goals, runs a successful business employing other young (and old) blokes in Canberra and has never looked back.

Xavier also gives back to Menslink by being a major sponsor of ours and is also always on the lookout for mental health issues in his staff and mates.

Luke’s Story

Everyone has a story. In our Menslink community, the stories include moments that are truly tough for our young guys. There are moments where things go very wrong, small problems turn into big ones and sometimes it looks like there is no way out.

But this doesn’t need to be the end, it can just be a beginning to a new story. Hear from Luke and listen to his story and the moment where it all changed for him.

His life story changed when he met his Menslink mentor for the first time (and it didn’t go to plan) and he made some choices which meant he started writing a different chapter.

Luke’s story is a powerful one worth hearing

Kaleb and Brandon’s Story

Each year we get the chance to sit down with some of the guys that have been through our programs and hear their story.  This year we sat down with Kaleb and Brandon, 2 young guys from Canberra who have both been through the Menslink mentoring and counselling programs over the past few years.  They both have very powerful stories of how they turned their lives around and can both point at that ‘moment of change’ where Menslink helped them turn a corner in their lives.

We discovered midway through their interview that they both had the same mentor – years apart – and then we sat back and listened to the stories and laughs they shared when they realised their paths had already crossed without them even knowing it.

Hearing these stories first hand really brings what we do at Menslink to life.  We use the terms “What We Do Works” and ‘Everything is Possible”. These two young men are the living examples of that statement and we’re proud at Menslink to count them as part of our community.

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