Have you ever thought, “That guy seems so together…I’ll bet nothing bad ever happens to him!”?
If you have, you should come to our next Menslink Midweeker.
We started Menslink Midweekers in 2013, because we wanted to break the perception that “famous” folk have it all figured out. We wanted to show people that, no matter who you are, there’s a good chance you’ve had to endure tough times and cope with some pretty serious challenges in your life.
So we asked high profile Canberrans to speak out, at a monthly event, about tough times in their own lives. And since we started, the Midweeker community has taken on a life of its own.
Each month, Canberra men we may know publicly, share stories they may never have shared openly before. They don’t talk about their career highlights, or their thoughts on managing a company or a charity or a football team. They share insights, challenges, and some really deep stuff they’ve had to face in their own life.
Our speakers hail from all different backgrounds, and have included:
- Media personalities
- Business people
- Sporting personalities
- Politicians
- Comedians
- Australian of the year
We’ve had Alan Tongue (former Raiders Captain), ACT and Federal politicians, Ben Alexander, Clyde Rathbone and Joe Roff from the Brumbies and Wallabies, business leaders John Mackay and Glenn Keys, former Australian of the Year David Morrison, Craig Allan (ABC News Presenter), Jay Sullivan (comedian), Richard Agnew (mountaineer), and Stephen Hodge (former Olympic and Tour de France cyclist) to name a few.
We’re excited to have the head of Home Affairs, the managing partner of EY, a Paralympic gold medallist, the Australia Institute’s chief economist, and many more lined up as we head into the second half of 2018.
What happens at a Midweeker
Midweekers are very informal. Men, women and children of all ages come along and enjoy a coffee, drink or dinner while they listen to the speaker.
Many people who come might have no other involvement in Menslink – they just want to hear the inspiring stories from our guest speakers. We’ve had successful politicians reveal battles with depression and PTSD. We’ve had high profile people talk about children with drug addiction. We’ve had others speak about family violence, losing a loved one to suicide, or other serious challenges they’ve had to cope with in life.
Midweekers are held once a month at Gryphons Café and Bar in Griffith. The evening kicks off at 5:30pm with a relaxed mingle, before I step up and say a few words about Menslink at 6pm. From there, our speaker talks for 15-20 minutes.
Afterwards, you can head home or stay back and meet people in your community, chat with us from Menslink, or even meet the speaker.
People often tell me how inspired they feel – many times by something seemingly insignificant. Others are grateful that they walked in with a pre-conceived idea about who the speaker was, and walked out feeling very different once they had heard their life story.
At the end of the day, we want everyone to realise that we all have current (or historical) challenges in our lives. And these challenges only get easier once we start a conversation.
Please come along to our next event. I look forward to meeting you there!
Marty