Level Up with Duayne Pearce
I take on the role of an authoritative voice that fearlessly communicates truths drawn directly from my lived experiences. With a genuine sense of ownership, my insights are free from any hidden agendas – they truly belong to the audience. My stories and journey add remarkable value, the key now lies in harnessing its power effectively to help others.
My purpose is to create a new residential building industry. My mission is to inspire unshakable self-confidence in my colleagues in the industry, empowering them to orchestrate prosperous, enduring, and lucrative businesses that bring exceptional projects to fruition for our clients.
My goal is to foster a deeper comprehension among clients about the identity and functions of builders, redefining their perceptions.
Level Up with Duayne Pearce
9 People Each Day In Australia Commit Suicide, 7 of These Are Male.
ep #117 Every second day, a construction worker in Australia takes their own life - a sobering reality that underscores the urgent need for mental health support in the blue-collar industry. In the shed today we have Jason and Von who are on the frontline for mental health support with the organisation TIACS (This Is A Conversation Starter). Learn about the transformative power of conversations sparked by Trademutt's eye-catching shirts, and how TIACS is stepping in as a "personal trainer" for the minds of tradies, truckies, farmers, and their families, offering professional counselling and breaking long-standing stigmas.
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On average, a construction worker in Australia takes their own life every second day.
Speaker 2:We have to talk about it more, because it shouldn't be something that just gets pushed under the rug.
Speaker 3:There's huge, huge power and power in vulnerability.
Speaker 1:We're all going through something. It's just the varying degrees of what we're going through.
Speaker 2:The more work you do on yourself. The sky's the limit.
Speaker 3:TX is essentially the same thing. We're the personal trainer for your mental fitness instead of your physical fitness.
Speaker 1:If we just have one listener out there that reaches out to tx, then our all, our time and our day is made g'day guys.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to another episode of level up. We're back in a very hot shed this afternoon and there's a bit of a storm on its way, so stay tuned for that. It might get a bit noisy, but another cracking episode coming your way today. So I'm really pumped about this one. Huge supporters of these guys. One of my businesses, live Life Build, is a sponsor of these guys and I'm just personally. I just love the work they do. So a huge shout out and welcome to Jason and Va and vaughn from tx.
Speaker 1:Mate, thanks so much for having us today yeah, it's really.
Speaker 2:Uh, it's been been trying to hook this one up for a little while, so I appreciate you taking the time out to come and have a have a chat yeah, no, and um, as you say, it's a bit warm in the old, uh, the old shed, but uh, yeah, we'll get through it.
Speaker 1:It's um great opportunity for us to get out to your listeners a little bit more about what we do out in the community and within the blue-collar industry of Australia and hopefully it resonates with somebody out there that's listening today and they feel the need that they might need to reach out or even just have a chat with a loved one tonight.
Speaker 2:I think most people will know I'm a massive supporter of Ed and Dan. I was on their Do they still do the podcast.
Speaker 1:No, bandwidth for them is really stretched. It was a good podcast, yeah, just the time of how Trademark has grown over the last couple of years and, as you know, there are a couple of passionate entrepreneurs and just having the time. If they ever got to do anything, they've got to do it full on and 100%, and I think there was something that had to give at some stage, definitely in the last couple of years as the growth sort of has taken place yeah, so, um, I guess for people that aren't quite up to speed with it all, so trademark is the clothing and the um like all the different colors and whatever.
Speaker 2:Like we've lived like builds. Actually get away and live like build um trademark shirt you guys are completely separate to the shirts, aren't you? So you're. You're a support for mental health.
Speaker 1:Yeah do you want to yeah?
Speaker 3:yeah, I'll, I'll jump in. So, trademark being the workwear brand tx um is, I guess, the the home of blue collar counseling, as we'd like to call it. But we're the counseling support service behind the trademark shirts um. We provide professional mental health counseling to anyone in the blue collar industry tradies, truckies, farmers um and their loved ones right around australia.
Speaker 1:So and we're only here today from a tx perspective, because of trademark, you know, because of the dan and ed story, and if you look at it, think about it this way. You know, when you see someone in a funky shirt, the shirts are designed to start conversations and turn strangers into mates and to get that conversation starting. That might not normally happen without the shirt and what's the shirt about? And you know, if anyone wants a you know, a how-to guide of what, how, what the shirt's about, it's just sitting on the back of every one of them and said this is a conversation starter. Um, so, but yeah, for the boys it was more around. You know, they'd done trademark when they launched in 2018.
Speaker 1:It kicked off. It was, you know, it went well. People were embracing the movement, but people were reaching out, going well, where do I go to next for that conversation? You know I'm having a conversation with my mate or a loved one, but I need that extra bit of conversation and it was probably the service that was missing when, you know, dan and Ed went through the challenge they went with through with losing their best mate in 2015, and so for them it was like, how can we get a service out there to hard-working Australians. You know that might not have the opportunity to have a chat to somebody professionally, and that's when TX was sort of was sort of born in 2020.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's amazing. I won't mention names, but one of your guys jumps on and does a mental health support call with our Live Like Bill members every now and then, and the conversations that he talks about, the subjects that he talks about, is really value-adding. Just giving people that insight and knowledge and what to be looking out for, how to handle the situation, how to reach out to other people in a way that makes them feel comfortable, all that sort of stuff like it's important that it's getting spoken about?
Speaker 1:yeah, definitely. I think that you know often, dan and ed, when they talk. They, you know, back 2015, you know we're looking probably nearly 10 years ago, mental health was sort of like this, portrayed as this dark subject yeah, and you think about a billboard on the side of the road probably back then, it was probably a was sort of like this, portrayed as this dark subject, gloomy subject, and you think about a billboard on the side of the road.
Speaker 1:Probably back then it was probably a bloke sitting in a room with blinds down in a dimly lit room with his hands on his head going you know what's going on?
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you and I, and Vaughn and everyone out there who's listening today, we're all going through something. It's just a varying degrees of what we're going through, and we all have mental well-being. We all have mental health. You know, like it's, it's out there and we're human beings. We all have it. So how do we then navigate those challenges that might present um to people in everyday life that we're experiencing?
Speaker 2:yeah, the way you got tx, do it like it's. It's a very different operation, isn't, to your normal sort of helpline yeah, well, I think that's where it's really gone.
Speaker 3:Um, that's why I think the success of tx is where it is, because one um it's quite a relatable service. Like we, we really um don't want to over complicate things. We I think all of our councils understand the natures of of people that work in the blue collar industry, um, but one of the biggest things is, like it's a, it's a text and call service um, it really takes down that barrier of you. Know, you don't have to get in your car, go to see a gp, get a mental health care plan, get, then find, go into google and find a psychologist. It's literally you could do just like what we are now sitting on a couch, just do your counseling right from where you are, in the comfort of your own home. And I think it's really being mindful of, as we said, like tradies, truckies, farmers. Oftentimes they're busy with with work and shift work and and could be varying times of the of the day and they wouldn't have time to just go like, oh, I'll not duck off after, after work, to go see a psychologist or a counselor.
Speaker 2:Oftentimes they they're just out out at the crack of dawn and and back when it's dark already and no time for all of this stuff, even if they want to do it, but then the job takes over and and possibly they can't afford to have the time off, so then they don't worry about booking in an appointment or whatever. Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think with that, like you say, then you know they don't have the time, there's a cost associated with it and I think you know the boys' vision when they set out for TX was to really make sure that they could deliver, remove the barriers for, you know, for tradies and truckies and blue-collar workers to get access to the support that they need. But they also deserve and that's why they made it a service that's got no out-of-pocket expenses, so it's free. It's removing that physical barrier. Also that, as Vaughan sort of mentioned, I don't have to get in a car and go to see a GP and if you think about blue-collar workers, there's a lot of stoicism that comes with being a blue-collar worker.
Speaker 1:Or you know someone that's a labourer and you know works up a sweat and uses their hands. You know, think about when you are having a challenging time and you need to talk to someone and actually then bringing up and making appointment to a gp and then walking in to see the gp that you've known for 20 years or 15 years and then have to open up and show vulnerability around. You know what I'm going through a bit of a shit time right now. Yeah, like that takes a lot, yeah, and we're trying to remove that barrier. Where you know, I could be sitting here during this podcast texting tx saying hey yeah, I'm not going too good right now.
Speaker 1:Can somebody hook me up?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's so good Like I talk about my struggles very openly, like I just think it's we have to talk about it more because it shouldn't be something that just gets pushed under the rug. And I think like one of the reasons I never used to speak about it was like just the way I guess that you were portrayed.
Speaker 2:If you brought it up and I've talked about it on the podcast before like it's a long time ago now but like think it's like we're probably going back 15, 16 years maybe, but in my early days of my building business, like we were running a shit show and like we had some very challenging situations with clients and I worked up the courage to go and see my doctor about and just I literally just wanted to chat from someone that wasn't like a mate or a family or whatever, and I thought the chat went all right, like I had to chat to my doctor and he asked me if I wanted some pills and I said no, I just like I really just wanted to chat, because I haven't been able to voice this to other people and I thought it all went well and and then a few months later we were I can't remember if it was my life insurance or something come up for a renewal and no one wanted to insure me because the doctor had written this report and put down that I was a suicide risk.
Speaker 2:And I'm like where's?
Speaker 3:this come from.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wow.
Speaker 2:And then that put me off. Then after that for another five or six years to even talk about it. Yeah, yeah, of course it would, and I think there's still a bit of that sort of like. I guess you've got to pick and choose who you'd reach out to as well. I think probably one of the beauties with TX is that you're a very approachable company, like the way what you put out there and your socials and all that like it.
Speaker 1:Just you're very welcoming and your socials and all that you're very welcoming. Yeah, our target with that is to really make sure that we're relatable to the industry out there, and if we can make it relatable and share a story, like you've just shared your story now and we always talk at TX is that everybody has got a story and every story is worth telling. And if you get to a point where you can't have a chat to your mate about your story or we can't have a chat on a podcast around what we're going through.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you need to talk to someone else, and that's when t-axe is there to kick into it and you know it's a bit like, um, you know your doctor or your hairdresser or whoever you've got.
Speaker 1:You know you want to make sure you've got the right person. That's relatable to you, and I think that's what is the difference with tx is that it's relatable to people out there. All our team, all our councillors. You have regular pd sessions to understand what's happening in the building industry, what's happening in the farming industry, what's happening in the trucking industry, so they can make sure that when they're talking to the person on the other end of the phone, they're understanding what they're going through. You know we go and do walks of, take the councils out to do walks of construction sites so they can actually see what construction workers and tradies have to endure in a day, with the noise and everything that's happening. And you know we're organizing them to go out and do visit, do like spend a day on the road with a truckie, you know, because then they understand the the challenges a truckie has to deal with out on the road. Yeah, um, so it's really for us that's really making sure that that is a service that people feel comfortable in reaching out.
Speaker 1:Um, and you know, one of the counsellors actually said to me one day that you know. I said you know what happens when somebody rings for the first time on their first session. Because they'll ring the first time and they'll have an intake counsellor that'll sort of navigate them through what they're going through and then book them into a session. And we can get somebody booked into a session within two weeks for their first counselling session. And I sort of said what do you say for the first time when somebody's reaching out? And he said all I say is that today's session is just going to be an intro. I just want to understand what you're going through. It's going to be like we're two mates talking, but we're just going to go a bit deeper.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's all it is. It's just a conversation. Yeah, um, and we all know how good it feels when we're having a conversation and we feel like we're unloading this stress and pressure that we have on our shoulders and we feel so much better for it I'd imagine a lot of people like obviously there's people that are affected differently, but I imagine there would be a lot of people that one or two calls just being able to have that conversation, that's it.
Speaker 3:Like on a daily basis, like what you said, like just having that conversation, and you don't want anything else, you just need someone outside of your circle, outside of your bubble it's not a mate, it's not a loved one just to have a conversation. And I was the same when I reached out. I didn't want medication, was the last thing on my mind, like I just needed someone to unload this burden that I had. And back then I was just troubled by this just being this whole notion of being a provider and I think as blokes, innately, I think we have that thing on us to almost be like oh, we've got to provide, especially when you've got families've got kids, you've got to provide. But then it also brings a lot of sometimes just just pressure and stress that oftentimes we just put on ourselves and all you need is a chat with someone that hopefully just wants to have a listening ear half the time. I don't want you to say anything, I just want to tell you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, someone to say so. You've personally used the service.
Speaker 3:I haven't, and I kind of wish TX was around back when I needed it and this was prior to TX.
Speaker 1:When did you take your first phone call? 2020, yeah, so probably prior to that.
Speaker 3:I remember seeing my psychologist for the first time. It was 2018 and um I. It was a time in my career also that probably from someone out looking in um and to give a bit of a backstory, like I, I wasn't in mental health prior to being with tx, but it mental health became so strong for me. I come from a corporate background, leading operations in a pretty well-known organization, and I thought I was doing well.
Speaker 3:From the outside looking in, people would probably say I was going great guns, but I had a lot of demons in my head and the more that they got louder, essentially the more I just threw myself to working a lot more and putting myself into positions where I just keep on working, until I wouldn't forget the day that my wife told me it was like you're, it was my day off and and she said, like you're, you're here, but you're not really here.
Speaker 3:Like you're physically here, but my mind was elsewhere. And at first I would I'd brush it off, but it took six months of her just every now and then bringing those times up like you're here, but you're not really here. You're physically in front of me, but your mind is elsewhere. And I think that's what after six months of her telling me that that's when I had to take the step. Maybe I do need to do something about this, and I know I'm not alone in saying that. There's a lot of people that probably just don't realize it in themselves, because we just keep doing the norm and find ways to cope with things, and my way of coping during the time was just throwing myself more to work because that's that's what I knew, what to do.
Speaker 2:I think that's what a lot of blokes do like, because we just I'm sure there's other people that relate to this, but I I know growing up like if you even hinted at talking about this sort of stuff, you were called some pretty nasty names or harden up and like it was just pushed under the rug and so like I've definitely been in those positions. But you, you just work to keep, you try and occupy your brain to try and stop those demons.
Speaker 1:Like I talk all the time, like I still get demons all the time it's but I know how to deal with them, yeah yeah, yeah, and I think that there's a couple of things to unpack there. You know, I I grew up with an old man that served in vietnam. You know, and so I've seen ptsd firsthand and living in a household of. You know the, the pressure that he was under. You know the, what he had to endure being over there and what he saw, and you know the his behavior that I guess he exhibited when I was growing up but I thought was normal behavior, the outburst of anger. You know these things that happened and you know we could never go to, you know, fireworks as kids because that would trigger dad.
Speaker 1:And it's probably why I do what I do now in this mental health space, because I have an opportunity to be able to give back to other people that are going through some challenging times. But the one thing that I just want everyone to understand is that TX isn't just there for the, the blue collar workers. We're also there for their loved ones, and you know listening to, you know Yvonne talk about then with his wife. Often it's the family out, the family, close-knit family are the ones that are impacted even more when somebody's having a challenging time, like my mom and myself, my sister and brother.
Speaker 1:You know we were impacted by that with dad. You know von's wife and no doubt your family were impacted by that as well. And you know, often they need a sort of an outlet to be able to express themselves, because they're the ones that have probably got a bit of a clearer head. But they're like going well, how do I, how do I bring this subject up? How do I talk to them? And you know, you know kudos to von's wife in his situation where she was able to go see something and feel the courage, because it is courage to be able to come up and say to somebody hey, I don't think you're doing so well yeah
Speaker 1:and then for them to then to be able to support them through it. So TX is just not there for that worker. It's there for the loved ones as well, and we get this all the time where a loved one will reach out for TX going. I've got my apprentice son we only had this recently. Actually, an apprentice son is really struggling. I just want to be able to. You know how can I navigate him getting back onto track, or what can I do At the end of the session? The mum booked herself in for some sessions because she needed it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that's what's so powerful as well is that we just cannot forget about the loved ones. Yeah, yeah, it's, it's a. I just love it. There's so much conversation about it now and like you guys are out there, like I um, I can't believe how much you guys do like we get the monthly newsletter because we're one of your supporters, and the amount that you get done in a month. And the people what's the numbers? Can we talk about numbers? What's across the whole lot of it like suicides? How many people you talk to? Yeah, yeah, cool.
Speaker 1:So the actual statistics around suicide in Australia is you know, on average a construction worker in Australia takes their own life every second day across Australia. When you start branching out into more rural areas, you know it's every 10 days someone will take their own life. You know seven out of nine people every day in Australia that take their own life are male and you know a lot of male workers.
Speaker 2:So what was that?
Speaker 1:So seven out of nine every day, so there's nine people in Australia every day take their own life.
Speaker 2:Holy shit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so there's about 3,600 people a year that take their own life and seven out of nine of them every day are males, and on top of that there's close to 60,000 that will attempt as well, you know, in Australia every year. So you know they're the statistics and you know that's the crisis end. You know, for, for an organization like tx, you know we're really focused on the early intervention part of it. You know we're having a shit day. I need someone to talk to because what we want to be able to do is get you in where you're needing us to where you're not needing us and, you know, prevent you to going down the path of.
Speaker 1:You know, um, you know suicidal ideations and and those sorts of things, and you mentioned before, you know what's the impact that people can have after a couple of sessions.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, probably around about six months ago, we had a guy reach out. One of the counsellors was telling me they had a guy reach out and was having some challenges with anger management, um, and had a lot happening in his life and couldn't control his anger. Within two sessions of of talking to one of the counselors, he had all these tools in his toolkit to be able to then get his anger management under control and after his second session he's fine. And you think about that ripple effect that that has in the family life, his own personal wellbeing. It's so profound. And so for us we probably get anywhere from 25 to 30 new clients every week reaching out to us, but we're giving multiple sessions. So probably this year we'll probably be targeting or not targeting, but actually delivering anywhere up to 7,000 counselling sessions back into the community with no cost to them at all. And we're reliant on the industry, like you guys at Live, life, build and other organisations, to be able to support us, because we don't get any government funding.
Speaker 2:I find that amazing that the work you do is not somehow slightly funded?
Speaker 1:A bit. Of that is our decision as well, once you start bringing government coming into it, it changes how we look. It probably changes how we speak. So for us it's about we want to control our destiny and we want the industry to control our destiny as well so people need to just go and load their wardrobes with trademark shirts well, that's one of that's one of the ways you know, like that's definitely, you know, 50 of the profits of the shirts go directly back to tx.
Speaker 1:But you, you know you talk about, you know what, you see, what happens in a month, you know. To give you an idea, we had representation in 2023 of 40 events where either Vaughan, myself, dan Ed, some of the TX team would turn up to events which would be fundraisers it'd be expos, speaking engagements In 2024, we're just about to click over 105 events. Holy doi Now. Click over 105 events. Holy do it. Now there's only 52 weeks in a bloody year, um, and there's only really a couple of us. So it's been a big year for us, but we've always been wanting to be the charity, the you know support service, whatever you want that actually cares and actually, you know, gives a fuck.
Speaker 1:Basically you know, we turn up, you know that's our whole thing is we care and we give a fuck and we want to be able to turn up and you know whether or not you know somebody's raising, you know just 500 bucks or 200, or whether they're raising 60 000, we treat them all the same, because every 130 that we receive through, whether it's through our alliance, partnerships and other means of funding, means that we can support another counseling session to take place.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and that could mean the difference for one person.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it could, you know, save a life down the path. It could actually save a marriage. It could save, you know, somebody not going through some financial challenges because they've got all this head noise. Yeah, um, and you think about it. For people that are blue collar australians, you know, the number one reason why they reach out to us is relationships, yeah, you know, and then it's financial, and then if you marry the two together, you can't have one pretty much without the other either. People are reaching out because they've got financial challenges, because they've got relationship issues, and vice versa yeah um, and yeah, and it's against the trend.
Speaker 1:I, you know, every person that has reached out to the TX service needs five gold stars because they're actually taking on like you have, like Vaughn have, like. We all have our own responsibility to our mental health and our well-being, but also to our family and our loved ones.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's bloody powerful stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2:Like something we're really, amelia and I are really proud of with Live.
Speaker 2:Like Bill, like we and this is based on our own experiences as well Like we know we can help people run better businesses. But like we know that, unless you're right, like and I bang on about this on the podcast all the time like you can't just get tied up and think that by doing coaching, mentoring, spending money, getting busier at work is going to solve your problems. Like if, if you're in a like any situation, like if what you're doing now isn't getting you where you want to be, there's no one thing that will fix it. Yeah, and I'm sure you guys probably might know more about this as well, but I personally believe, now that it's got to start, like you've got to work on yourself and to be able to like, a lot of that is generally started by having a conversation totally and just. I I tell a lot of people now like and I again it's from my own personal experience you have to be vulnerable, like I've my. I firmly believe now like, once you like make that decision to be vulnerable, the floodgates open.
Speaker 1:Yeah there's so much power. Yeah, yeah, there was a. You know there's a day in the year that it's about checking in with other people and you know, are you okay day? And you know it's such a great opportunity for people to check in with others. But I remember ed saying to us, you know, two years ago, on that day you know, out into his network. You know, I know days today about checking in with others. But how about you check in with yourself first? And you know, once you're checking with yourself and understanding where your own mindset is and I often talk about this I can't help others to fill their cup up unless my cup's full. Yeah, and you know I've been at stages in my career where my cup has been completely empty.
Speaker 1:But I put all my focus on making sure that everyone else is right, but I forget about myself and then all of a sudden, you know you, you start putting on weight and you start to not sleep at night time and you start to have all these stresses in life that you just can't manage. Yeah, and that's when you go down this spiraling part of fuck. Where am I going to? What's next for me?
Speaker 2:yeah, um von's, tell us a little bit about his background. Like what from corporate? Like what's your background?
Speaker 1:yeah mine's, mine's corporate as well um, you know, pretty much from the same organization into senior leadership roles within corporate organizations for 30 years, into retail has been mine, yeah, um, but probably in 2000. Um, uh, was 2018, yes and 2018. I had spent 16 years with an organization and For me, I wasn't in a good place mentally. I was making sure everyone else was right, but not myself.
Speaker 1:And similar story my wife said to me one Sunday afternoon in August I still remember where I was walked in and said what's going on with you? You're not the same person, you're having outbursts, you're sheltered in, we bottle things up normally. And that's what was happening. And I think it was that time where I was just waiting for somebody to ask me a question about that so that I could answer it, because I didn't feel comfortable in actually expressing it myself. So she gave me the opportunity to actually then open up and when I did, I broke out in tears, still sitting on the edge of the bed, and just said yeah, I'm not in a good place. And it was the time where she turned and said to me what are we going to do about it? And it wasn't. What was I going to do?
Speaker 3:yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1:It was what we were going to do about it, and that was the change I. I said I don't know what. What are we going to do about it? I wasn't in a good place.
Speaker 2:She said you need to resign jeez mate, I'm getting tears in my eyes.
Speaker 1:She every time I tell this story it sort of gets me going, because it was that time where I needed somebody to ask me that. But then I needed some direction and she gave it. She said you need to resign, yeah, and so I walked in, made an appointment with my financial advisor Two days later and we both walked in. She walked in there with me and after I told the financial advisor, who I'd had for years he's like my CFO, I call him I said to him you know, this is what I'm doing. After he got himself up off the floor he said gave me the best advice I'd ever had after that was everything will be right financially. You've done the hard yards and we'll set everything up.
Speaker 1:So you, what I want you to do is I want you to go and take a year out and I don't want you to go and do a CV. I don't want you to be on linkedin. I don't want you to apply for jobs. If jobs come hunting for you, don't take them. Take the year out. And I did that and I went and did some uber driving just just to like keep the keep the time going. Fucking hated that um you know because people can be nasty.
Speaker 1:I tell you, um, the people don't want to talk to you, think you know they. Just you want to get in there for a chat and I'm up for a chat. No one wants to chat to you. So that didn't last too long.
Speaker 1:But I'd actually had a passion for um fitness. I'd owned a crossfit gym on the side when I when I was in the corporate side of things, I had a partnership in a crossfit gym. So I loved fitness and it was around when covid was sort of hitting. And so I just started setting up a personal training studio at home and um had people just inundated me going hey, can you PT me? You know, because we can't go to the gym. I went, no worries, and how it all started was I started training a young guy who was 14 years of age, who had autism and had some intellectual disabilities, and I started doing that. And then all of a sudden I just got inundated with these people that you know, with family members of disabilities, and they were going, going. I need. I'd love you to be able to take this on board. So I started a personal training studio at north lakes working with people with a disability my brother's intellectually disabled.
Speaker 1:So I had a passion for that, yeah, and it was close to my heart, ended up doing 32 pts a week, um, with people with a disability and called it adaptive athletic because it was making sure that, you know, we could adapt to people and it's a bit like what we do with our minds. But working with people with a disability is really setting them up to be fit for life. That can they carry the groceries from the car to the house, so doing farmer's carries and just doing real life stuff without just a pump and iron, but actually doing things that they could squat so they could sit on a toilet and get up, you know. And that was really fulfilling for me. But then you know these, these two crazy dudes from trademark. I saw something on linkedin this is three or four years after I'd sort of resigned and I came across this tx thing and um went bloody hell, you know what's this about.
Speaker 1:And then I rang, a mate of mine who um ran a mate of mine who actually knew them and he said um, you know, are you interested in working for these guys? I said well, I love what it's about. I said I'm interested and he said I'll give him a call. So he gave ed a call and pretty much the rest is history. I've clock up three years, um in february, um, and it's been just such a fulfilling role to be able to do something work for a social purpose organization that is actually doing good and is actually impacting lives. Um, and giving me the opportunity to give back to people like I wish someone had given back to my dad when I was growing up to be able to have him access to services that was relatable to what he was going through yeah, so um, so you're, you're co-ceo, and von your partnerships
Speaker 3:yeah, yeah, like you're doing a cracking job.
Speaker 2:Um, I just want to go back to a bit in your story, um, where I was starting to tear up a little bit, like, like you say, sitting on the end of the bed and like your wife asking you, and like I think back to like my childhood and like I, I, my, I know my dad's got some mental health issues and I he just even today, like he just doesn't speak about it yeah yeah, and like, I have very vivid memories of my mum asking my dad that same question and my dad just losing his shit.
Speaker 2:And I know even just from mates and colleagues I have now that's how they would react. So it's okay, you don't have to fly off the handle if someone asks you how you're going.
Speaker 1:No, no, and I think that for me sitting there that time, as I said, I think I was waiting for somebody because I didn't have the courage to speak up. Now I do because I've been through it. It's a little bit like counseling. You know people go. You know why should I do counseling? I said, have you ever tried it? Oh, no, well, how do you know what it's like?
Speaker 1:and and I think for us is just don't think of us as a counseling service, just think of us having a conversation. Yeah, it's a great place to have a conversation. You know we talk about trademark as being the conversation starter. Tx is there to continue the conversation, but it's a great place to have a conversation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know, sitting on the end of that bed, I still, as I said, vividly see it every, every time, and it actually brought our marriage closer, um, because we did it together and she was supportive of what I was going through and then, in turn, then I'm in supportive of what she goes through. She's a school teacher and it's pretty challenging being a school teacher these days, but I think it's often that time and I think we try and bottle things up and we get bottle things up to a point where they do explode and that's when the anger kicks in or the, you know, the resentment kicks in, um. But I just say to everybody out there that's listening on this podcast that I know have no doubt that everyone out there is going through something right now yeah, everybody, everybody, every single person it could have been the bloody bill that just turned up.
Speaker 1:It could have been I wasn't paid on site. It could be I'm going through some relationship challenges. It could be I've wasn't paid on site. It could be I'm going through some relationship challenges. It could be I've lost a loved one. It could be anything. If you haven't tried reaching out to a service like ours or a psych like you boys have, then try it. And even if you aren't going through anything, reach out to TX today, have a chat with the counselor and understand what the service is like, because you're going to be a better referral for your mate when they need it, but you're going to be a better referral for yourself when you need it, when you need to know how easy it is to do it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I just want to add to that because I think I know, you know, we're a counselling support service. About 70 percent um that reach out to us are male, 30 percent are female um, but I think, in saying that, a lot of us guys tend to think that we need to have the solution to our problems for us to reach out to someone. We almost need to know how do I fix this? And then I'll reach out to someone how, what are the answers to my problems? First, like I need to know how, how am I going to get out this, then I'll reach out just so they could guide me or something. Well, that's the, that's probably the biggest well, it's like.
Speaker 1:It's like when you go to a gym like people go oh, I need to get fit before I go to a gym because I don't want to like because I don't want to walk. I don't want to walk in there being unfit. What the fuck are you going to a gym for? Yeah, so it's the same with this like yeah, you're right, and people the other thing we hear a lot of for people is going, but I just don't want to take the service away from somebody that needs. If you're saying that, you need it?
Speaker 2:yeah, and I feel like there's also a lot of people that, um, they feel like they failed, like if they don't have the answer, yeah, and they can't sort their own problems out.
Speaker 1:They feel like they're a failure I just had this conversation this is ironic just this morning where a guy rang me up and, um, who I, who I know, and he said, um, you know I'm, I'm not doing this anymore. Um, because my mental health has just got to a point, um, where I just can't do it and I feel like a failure but I'm going to put all my energy into. And I said wait up, wait up, wait up, wind up, wind up, wind up. The fact that you've actually recognized that you've got a lot of head noise at the moment and you can't put a hundred percent effort into that doesn't make you a failure. If anything, it makes you a stronger person for actually standing up and going. I need to do something about it. Yeah, and you're right. That thing in here goes failure. Like what von's saying I need to fix.
Speaker 1:Like tradies are great buddy your problem you know like you gotta you. You see something Dan always talks about this. Ed doesn't, because I think I don't know if Ed was a real carpenter or whatever.
Speaker 3:But he was an apprentice.
Speaker 2:I know that story.
Speaker 1:But Dan often talks about that there's a problem. I can say that I spend a lot of time with the boys, so we're always taking the piss out of each other, but Dan always talks about. You know, as tradies, we're often problem solvers, so we try to fix the problem to the solution, when sometimes the solution is we actually have to seek advice to get it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've only just recently, over the last couple of months, like I do all sorts of coaching, reach out to people and that, and, like I said before, like I just think that, well, I know, like the more work you do on yourself, you just the sky's the limit and um. So something I've been working a lot, um, just because of the different businesses, and that is a disc profile. I don't know if you guys have heard of them, um, I knew nothing about them, um, but it's basically going like figuring out who you are and yeah, yeah, I don't know. I think there's all different types of disc profiles, but yeah, you basically answer a heap of questions and and you can do it differently, like, so, like I did one and I had to answer it to suit the position I I was in that business um, you can do one and to do to do with your home life.
Speaker 1:You can do one to do with your position in your job, like all those types of things but it's been an absolute eye opener for.
Speaker 2:So you basically um, you get put into like I think it's d, I, s or c type person and then depend like it's like a circle and then, you can be like at different levels or um within that circle, and it helps you understand how everybody's very different and it gives you a lot of solutions to how and like.
Speaker 2:After doing that, I can just I know what every member of my team is and it's it's changing the way that I'm starting to show up and have conversations yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, and I would imagine there's probably a lot of blokes that are like so d, like I'm a lot of d in mine, but I'm at the sort of lower end of it yeah, um, but like a high d, they just have a solution for everything. They don't take advice. They. They want to solve the world's problems, like all these types of things and like now, knowing what the different types of people are, um, it's been really powerful and like I listen to people's conversations now and just in my head I'm going you're an s bring a type on them, but it's.
Speaker 2:But it's allowing me to have exactly open up and have a different conversation with them and yeah, I coming back to the blokes like possibly being asked that question from their wives, like it's actually changed the relationship yeah like with my partner as well, because now I understand what type of person she is a lot more yeah, and now, knowing what type of person I am, I can change my reactions or even words, like use different words so that I don't react in the wrong way and all those types of things.
Speaker 1:But yeah, yeah, um. Well, I think that well-being side of things you know understanding, you know personalities and who you're dealing with and who you're talking to and being able to, you know, take on, because we're all human so we all have different, different ways that we look at things. But, you know, one of the things that people often say to me is you know, how do I? You know?
Speaker 1:turn up every day in a in an industry that can be pretty dark, like it is pretty tough, and there's plenty of times this year that I've had lots of tears in my eyes because people are opening up on their stories. So for myself and for Vaughan and the boys and everybody who works at TX and Trademarks, how do we stay on top of that? And I have two things. I have a two-prong approach to this. I make sure that I've got a really good support crew. So I could tell you right now, if you looked at my notes, I'll have all the names and the numbers of all my support crew, whether that's my mum, my dad, my wife, my best mate, dan, ed, and some of those I'll reach out to and say, hey, I'll have the conversation with Dan, but I might not actually have that conversation with my wife because I feel more comfortable talking about it with them.
Speaker 1:So, having a really good support crew in place and it could be just one or two people, but letting them know that they're part of your support crew. So when you get to a point where you go, you know what, I'm not in a good place. Hey, such and such tony mate, can you, you got time to call. Yeah, got time to chat. So that's one part is having a support crew, but the other, the other thing, is having a really good self-care routine in place. And you know I'm one of the guys that wakes up every morning, jumps in a 25-minute sauna, a three-minute ice bath.
Speaker 2:You're one of those crazy guys. Yeah, I want to.
Speaker 1:I like it. Oh, awesome, that's good. One of the other podcasts I did. They were calling me a wanker or something. I want to, but for me it sets my day up. You know, I can get in there. I can picture what I've got my day out to look like I jump in the ice bath. Not only is it great for your mind, it's great for your physical body as well. Um, and the other thing as well is that my wife's a school teacher, so of an afternoon, if I don't get to the gym, we go take the dog for a walk, we debrief her day, my day, and then we jump in the sauna for 30 minutes at the end before we go off and do dinner. And so it's actually created this bond, another opportunity for us to have a bond and have that relation, have a strong relationship. So having a really good self-care routine in place, like I think routine is huge people, people so many people don't.
Speaker 2:Yeah, discipline like people don't underestimate the power like me and my wife butt heads on this a bit, but like I'm not, like I won't when I'm awake, I'm awake, so like there's no point tossing and turning and fucking, waiting for the alarm to go off, like if the sun's up, the birds are chirping and I'm awake. Go get up and do your routine, like we um an ice bath in the saunas next on our list. Like I go and do them, but we definitely want to have one. I do the cold showers.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:That was another massive improvement in my sort of mental health was just having the consistency and the discipline to just stand there under a two-minute cold shower, and just every day like no excuses every day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's that routine Like I look at this guy here. Here you know he's got three young kids all under the age of three.
Speaker 3:You do them, you do the numbers out there um you know it's been, he's been, he's been pretty, he's been pretty active for a while but, um, but you know he's got three young kids, so he's got.
Speaker 1:You know he wants to spend time with them and we often talk about when we're traveling and stuff, and you know you go and put the kids to bed but then he'll go and train in the garage because he's got a gym set up so he might be training at 7 30 at night. Yeah, but that's routine, it's disciplined, but he's still spending his quality time with his kids and his sacrifice is to go. Oh, I'm going to train a little bit later than I probably normally would, but I get to spend time with my kids, yeah and that's and I really find that good because I really needed to find time.
Speaker 3:you You've just got to adjust and adapt and you can find a good routine to a certain point. But obviously I had a big change in my life kids, obviously and I just had to find a way to lessen the friction between having good time with my kids and then still keeping the time to myself, because I know if I'm good, as you say, the better I am, the better father I'm going to be, the better husband, I'm going to be the better overall person and I notice it. It takes probably three to four sessions that I miss and I'm a completely different person. I just notice myself being a little bit more agitated, just a little bit more short, and as soon as I do do something, it could be a physical it doesn't have to be always just going to the gym and lifting weights and doing that type of stuff.
Speaker 3:Sometimes I actually like it when I recently just bought a mountain bike where I could put um, I bring my kids with me, put a little seat on there with me and and um, my my eldest has an electric bike and to me one. I get to spend time with them, but it's also some physical activity for me and I've found it like I've got the best of both worlds and I think that's what it is Like. For me. It's just about finding how you adapt to things, and some crazy people do ice baths. Jason's been showing me every single time that I go to his house Like mate this is the next thing house like mate, you have to do it.
Speaker 2:It's freaking awesome. You need to go and, uh, I don't know if you've done it, the johannes bloody go down the snowy mountains.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I haven't done that. No breathless expedition. Yeah, yeah, awesome. Yeah, yeah, yeah, um like I'm.
Speaker 2:I'm addicted to it, like we, uh, when we went to base camp, jumped in the ice water. When we went to milford sound jumped in the ice water. It's, it's unreal.
Speaker 1:So have you done, kokoda.
Speaker 2:We're trying to book Koda for 2026, but we're having trouble because it's still going through all that. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 1:Seven times, seven times.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, right Didn't you.
Speaker 2:I was yeah as soon as you said, base camp in.
Speaker 1:Milford Sound. I'm like, okay, we've got so much in common to talk about. But yeah, back in 2011, my sister rang me and said, hey, we're looking at doing Kokoda Because Dad's got a history and my grandfather had a history of the war. And she said do you want to do it with us? And I said, yeah. She said, well, it ticks off the box. I wanted to do it before I was 40 and I was turning 40, sort of in 2013, and so I went over in 2012 and did it.
Speaker 1:And then, after I did it, it was such a I don't know. It was that crucible moment of life where it was like this isn't a physical challenge, this was a mental thing for me and I'm probably going to make you tear up again, but I apologize for that, but I got to. You know, I've had divorce recently, a few years earlier, with my wife, so I had two kids and had their 50% of the time in the custody. And when you do Kokoda, it's a bit like some of those other things you don't get service, you know, no mobile service, which is great, because then you're detoxed from social media and all the other shit.
Speaker 1:That goes on, and it was the second last day and you sort of go to the peak and you get service at the top and then you go back down. You don't get service till the next day. We got to this top of this peak and I thought, well, I'm gonna message the kids and say, hey, you know, my daughter at the time and my son, I don't think he had a phone then. But I messaged and said hey, you know I'm getting close. It's been an amazing experience, and you know. So turn the phone off, get down to the bottom, stay overnight and then we peak, which was the last day. I got to the top of the peak and I turned the phone on and there was a message from my daughter. She was 15 at the time and she said um, oh, dad, I'm so proud of you, of what you've achieved, mate. I bawled my eyes out from the top of that peak to the bottom. I had to wear sunglasses.
Speaker 1:I went to the back of the pack because I just could not, because it was just an emotional time and then, after I'd done it the first time, um, I got this email from the trekking company I did it with and they sort of said they were looking for part-time trek leaders. I'm like, oh, this is me.
Speaker 2:Oh, mate, you're going to have to do our trip for us.
Speaker 1:So I haven't done it for a few years. I haven't done it since before COVID, because you know there's the changes that have happened over there and stuff. So, yes, I went back and did a trainee, sort of as a track leader, and then led five tracks after that, all the way through from start to finish. So amazing experience, you know, and I think that's the other thing. Like you talked about discipline and routine. Often we need a goal to aspire to go and do Like. For me, kokoda was my change in my life around my physical fitness and my mental fitness, around going to the gym on a regular basis and starting to do things for myself. But I needed that goal and if people haven't got a goal, then they go. What is the purpose? Why am I doing this? What's the outcome? So I think that's I made 100.
Speaker 2:That's um. So it's nearly seven years since I did base camp and that was that was the turning point in my life, like Like up until then I was like everyone else, I just fucked around, like, yeah, I'm going to get fit.
Speaker 2:I'd get fit for three months, six months and then get back off it, or I'd get into motorbikes or I'd do something, but, um, yeah, that really taught me a life lesson was like you've got to have goals. Um, like I had always had sort of business goals and things, but personally like I'd never, and since I'd left school there was nothing to aim for.
Speaker 2:yeah, look at school, you're in sporting teams or you're doing something, like you're involved with things yeah and I had none of that and like, yeah, just the fact that we locked that in for base camp. And so every year after that we tried to, I think I would come, and then the last few years we haven't done anything. We thought we'd do something this year and like no, fuck it, we're going to lock it in, we want to go when Anzac Day is on and we can't.
Speaker 1:Next year is already booked out, so we're going to book 2026. Anzac Day up there is. I always used to stay away trekking around Anzac Day because it is just crazy. You always do the end of the part of the season which gets a bit hotter and starts to get a bit more humid, but Anzac Day, up on Brigade Hill, and they reckon he's just next level.
Speaker 2:So I think I'm 14 days in or something. So I've made a commitment to myself now. So I think it's approximately 450 or 460 days if we get to go at Anzac Day 26. So I've made a commitment I'm going to exercise every single day. Yep, so I've signed up to an app. Um, I've put all my stats in there and it, basically, every morning, it spits me out a workout between anywhere from uh 13 to 28 minutes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, and so, yeah, I've just but even so, just the fact that we haven't actually booked a trip yet but in my mind that's set in stone and where that's what we're aiming for yeah, because if I don't have those things, I just don't do it. Well, why do I?
Speaker 1:do it, you wake up and you go. Oh, you know, people often say yeah there's an excuse.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's actually a choice, it's not an excuse.
Speaker 1:It's actually a choice you either want to do it or you don't want to do it. And you know, as you know, with trekking and stuff, the biggest thing with kokoda that I found was making sure my legs were as fit as they possibly could be. That is the number one thing when you're doing Kokoda, and I did a lot of, um, nasal breathing, so, um, you know, so making sure that you know I'm breathing through the nose, and every time I did it I'd get to a point where I'd be climbing up and just getting to nasal breathing and just all of a sudden it was just you'd just be flying up these hills and flying down these hills and you know, because you go through I think it's what close to you know 7 000 meters of elevation and de-elevation over that nine days that you're over there for. But it's in the heat, um, and it's more of a mental challenge. I really think when you start to go these do these bigger sort of I think any of those treks are like.
Speaker 2:Even when we did milford, like it was just massive days I think the milford track was harder than base camp yeah, right okay um, that had a lot of earthquakes and shit, so there's avalanche and shit. So I think, instead of being the normal 42ks or something it's like, we're doing all these detours and shit.
Speaker 2:What an experience, but, but you had a goal yeah, but I mean I think that's super, super important. I'd like to go back to you von um, because this is another. I believe it's an excuse. I hear all the time from people that reach out to me that are trying to better themselves better their business that they've got young families and they don't have any time.
Speaker 2:But you've obviously, like, adapted your routine to still get time with your kids, your family, and still do what you want to do because, again, it's I don't know if, like you said, it's a choice or in it's not an excuse, it's a choice. It's very easy for someone to go I've got no time. I've got young kids, or I've got no time I need to spend time with the missus. You're far more valuable to those people if you're spending time on yourself.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and like I attest to what Jason said, if you really want it, you're going to find a way. And if you, if you're, if you really want it, you're going to find a way, and if you don't want it, you're going to find an excuse. And I think, when it comes to, especially when, when you're I'm in a stage of life right now where you know I've got three young kids and and probably that that provider three girls, by the way, three girls so god, help me when they're 13, 14 and my two 11 and 13.
Speaker 2:And yeah, it's, it's.
Speaker 1:I'm about to start doing a lot more treks, yeah I've got a 26 and a 23 year old, so I'm way out.
Speaker 3:I'm well over past that it looks like he's 40, but he's he's yep, um, but yeah, I not to plug, keep plugging tx, but I I do think, look, if there was a resource like this back when I, when I first started seeing a counsellor because we're open monday to friday 8 am till 10 pm really just being mindful, um, it's counselling operations that's really mindful of, I guess you know especially tradies, truckies, farmers, their schedules are all over the place.
Speaker 3:So to be able to basically take out your phone and reach a counsellor, talk to a counsellor at 9 pm at night, in the comfort of your own home or wherever you are, I think that's that's a real game changer and I think, yeah, just adapting to a lot of things. Like you know, I may not do a lot of the stuff that, um, that will reach out to, to people that I used to reach out to, but I still profess to counselling is, but I still profess to counselling is just one avenue. We're not saying that counselling fixes everything, if anything, like a lot of our counsellors say, we're not here to take all your problems away, we're just here to have a chat so we can help you because you're going to come through some challenges again. We're just here to give you the tools so then you can take those challenges on again, but in a different mindset and I think for me, being a dad, I'm just navigating through this whole rigmarole of life, of all the challenges that it is.
Speaker 2:You've committed Bart, you've made the time, your kids are getting you and you're still doing some personal time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think with those kids side of things is finding those little times that you can connect like I used to have a thing that I wanted to pick the kids up from school if I could that's a choice because that's a choice then, and then I could spend time in the car, even if it was just a conversation, until we got home.
Speaker 1:You know, um, you know because you don't realize. You know them being able to share their day because you might get home, you get busy, and then you're getting dinner and they're in bed and you actually haven't found out and that's all that. It's connection.
Speaker 1:You know, what we're doing today is connection, isn't it? So, you know, finding that time to be able to connect with each other and not just our family, but also our mates and our loved ones and who we work with um is really, you know, paramount. You know, as von says, you know, we, we know that counseling's not for everybody, but if it's going to get you back love and life a bit more, isn't that worth it?
Speaker 2:100 yeah, and like it, really like once you, once you, once you do it and you commit to it and like then you got to be consistent in that with it. But yeah, like you can go from the darkest hole to a completely different life in a matter of weeks like purely by changing your mindset.
Speaker 3:Having conversations with people, um, yeah, all that type of stuff, yeah, definitely we've been talking a lot about, like physical fitness and and keeping up with our physical fitness and jason and all. I always have chats about this like why? Why is it like if someone said, like someone could give you eight free personal training sessions with a really great, great physical um personal trainer, all for free, you'd be like, oh yeah, give it a crack.
Speaker 3:I might give that a go, but then get three or four in and yeah, yeah, yeah, loving it tx is essentially the same thing, like we're the personal trainer for your mental fitness instead of your physical fitness, and we just need to start thinking about it in that sort of sense, like we're, if we're good up here and we're physically good, everything else gets looked after and that's the power of it all like we don't have to think about seeing a counselor as this deep, dark thing that we don't tell anyone.
Speaker 3:Yeah if anything, be proud of that, because then you're, you're making this sharper and you're, you're, you're better as a person.
Speaker 2:So so how does it work? Like what's. Um, I know a few people that have reached out to tx and they give me a little bit of what goes on. But, like you, you actually have a bit of a strategy. Don't you like when they first ring up? If it like it's?
Speaker 1:yeah, so really simple. Um, it's called text, um connect with an intake counselor. So we could sit here and bring one of the team that's on right now. They'll have a chat with you, understand what you're going through, and then they will then go okay, no worries, I'm going to book you in with this counsellor on this date and give them an appointment and then they get booked into that session. So they've locked in then. But you know, if they can't make it, no guilt, no worries, we can re-change that and reschedule that. Once they get their first session booked in, then they'll have a chat with our counsellor and then they have the same counsellor for all their sessions after that. So that person that they connect with they'll have with all the sessions after that, and it's a 45-minute session. They can do it all via text. They don't even have to actually. Actually, our counsellors often say there's people, clients, that have reached out. They've never heard their voice. Yeah right, because it's all via text. You know, close to 15%, I think, of clients now are using full text-based counselling.
Speaker 2:Well, that just goes to show you how powerful messaging and just having a conversation can be.
Speaker 1:Well, it was put into me in this terms by one of the team. They sort of said you know what, banksy, if you think about this, at 8 or 9 o'clock at night, I've just done a text-based counselling with a client. They feel better for it because they've been able to unload. They probably then go and get a better night's sleep, but then they wake up the next morning and go oh, what do I need to focus on over the next two weeks to my next session? It's on my phone, everything's there. It's like notes taking notes. It's in there.
Speaker 1:But if someone's not feeling quite comfortable, then that is an option for us and get it with apprentices. So I think about apprentices. We actually have at tx an opportunity to be able to change the mental well-being of the future of blue collar industry through apprentices. If we've got an apprentice out there that reaches going through a challenging time and they reach out to us when they're in their 17, they're 18, they're 19 and let's be honest, you know that's a it's a tough time of life for them. But when they hit the 30s and the 40s, it's a tougher time of life. You're managing, you know, mortgages, businesses, careers, kids, family all that they'll be more likely to reach out to a service like ours when they've already experienced it like you guys, yeah and we go to.
Speaker 1:You know von and some of the team go out to tafs and do speaking engagements out of Queensland TAFE because we get some, you know sponsorship money through CSQ and we can guarantee we go out and talk in front of apprentices that day. Some reach out that night. We find that sort of the younger generation are a little bit more opening up than the older generation. They'll go shit. Well, there's a service here. I need to talk to someone. I'll talk to someone about it or I'll text them.
Speaker 1:So we feel that we can have a generational shift of, you know, mental health within this country if we can get those apprentices that are going through a rough time to reach out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think that's just creating that normalcy where we're all dads here, like for our kids to grow up and them to be so natural to say, oh, I've got my psychologist appointment, and them to just say that, with no qualms whatsoever, yeah, oh mate.
Speaker 2:I think it's really important. I thought it was tough when I was growing up. But man, seeing my girls go through like um, the oldest ones coming up to a second year of high school, my youngest one starts high school next year and man like far out girls, man like they are ruthless.
Speaker 1:Hey, you're not making easy for me well, I I've got my, my 26 year old daughter and her partner or fiancee living with me at the moment because they've just bought our place and they're transitioning and she's been living at home and she's just finished doing her uh, naturopath degree and, um, you know, she got engaged to, she finished her degree, they bought a property and she's setting up a business and it all happens in this short period of time she, she's living under the household and I just felt that she just and she'll be comfortable with me talking about this but she just wasn't herself, a little bit like how I wasn't myself. I said to my wife. I said I need to talk to her. We can't keep living on eggshells. Every time she walks out.
Speaker 1:I said to her the other day, sunday morning actually. I said hey, you know, can I have a chat? And she goes. Yeah, she goes. What's going on? I said you just don't seem yourself. And then she just opened up and told me everything that's going on and at the end of it she came up and said I love you, dad. Thanks so much for asking me that question. Yeah, you know, and I think it's having it's tougher for them to reach out. Yeah, and I think we all have an obligation to our loved ones when we see that they're not quite in the right space. The worst thing that she was ever going to do to me is tell me to fuck off, like she would have said dad, I'm fine, there's nothing wrong. But she didn't, yeah. And then she met. Then the next day afterwards she actually said to me. He said I'm so grateful that I had that chat yesterday because I feel so much better for it yeah, definitely my girls.
Speaker 2:Any young mate and I um like we uh take turns and picking the kids up and that so or if I don't get the chance to pick him up, I'd take him horse riding, that after school, their lessons and that. But I always make a point like so I always ask them like how's your day?
Speaker 2:yeah and most of the time I say like what'd you do nothing? Yeah. So I'm like well, what was the best part? What was the worst part? Who'd you talk to today? What'd you do today? Like and just try and really encourage that um conversation and, like my youngest one's, she's a bit cagey. Um, she keeps things tight to her chest so you got to work on her a little bit. But my oldest one is quite an emotional um kid and we get so much value out of those conversations. Like sometimes it's very short and sweet, but other times she just really opens up to it. I never got that as a kid.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like, and I don't know if my parents just sort of they're just kids, like what do you? But I get a lot of value out of having those conversations and my girls are only young.
Speaker 1:But yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I think you and like even just with my wife, like I always make sure I'm always asking, like even though we work together, like just how's your day? Yep, what would you struggle with today? What, what happened? Like I think it's just important just to have those little conversations and connections yeah, give people the opportunity to voice something that they may have.
Speaker 2:So they might have had something that really stressed them out that day or pissed them off, or they could have something that just highlighted their day. Like, have they talked to anyone about it? Yeah, like, yeah you don't know if you don't ask.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely true but um, guys, we'll wrap it up. It's been a great conversation, like before we get out of here, like what's I guess each of you like what's one thing you'd put out to people about what tx does or what you'd like people to do oh you know, oh, just to reach out, like, as I said a couple of times, we're all going through shit um.
Speaker 1:Just don't bottle it up like if, if you can't have that chat with a mate or a loved one, like we've discussed today and and you need that extra chat, just reach out to tx and give it a go. If you haven't tried it, just give it a go, like it's not that bad um, it's actually good um. So I would just say to people if you want to get back to love and life a bit more and you've got some challenges, a bit of head noise reach out to us awesome.
Speaker 2:How about you van?
Speaker 3:oh, very much similar. But I think, um, especially these days, I'll just say to people like there's, we're very good at, I don't know, I was just very good at pretending that everything's okay and on the surface level, especially with, you know, a lot of platforms and the way technology is these days, it's very much easy for us to show people like I've got it all together, um, when most of us are probably just struggling, just like they're the next person. So, um, there's, there's huge, huge power and power and vulnerability, and I think for me, like, tx is a game changer. Um, I've got the pleasure of working for this organization and and preach, I guess, what I really believe in, because, like, I think a power of conversation could really change someone's life yeah, well, you've proven that.
Speaker 2:So uh guys really really appreciate you coming on sharing your story and having a conversation today.
Speaker 1:It's been unreal and you know, massive thank you to you guys over at live life build as well, and what you do for us, dwayne, to be able to jump on board and support with trademark and the shirts. Um, we can only do what we do with the support of the industry and the community. And the community and the fact that you know you've invited us in for this podcast, you know, creates awareness. If we just have one listener out there that reaches out to tx, then our all, our time and our day is made.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so thank you well, guys, uh look, thanks very much for listening. Um, please look, continue to uh like, subscribe, share all those things so we can continue for this to be Australia's number one construction podcast. Look, I can't. I love these guys. I've got goosebumps. Go and buy trademark shirts and get involved so that proceeds go towards funding more TX and more support towards mental health. And look, if you are out there, you're listening to this podcast and you, like the guys have said, if you've never tried this before, just pick up the phone, send a text message, give the guys a call and just have a chat. And, I think, just be aware of the people in your team or in your work, wherever you work, as well, and just keep an eye on people and have those conversations, because they're very important. So we'll see you on the next one. Thanks, guys.
Speaker 3:Are you ready to build smarter, live better and enjoy life? Then head over to live like buildcom forward, slash, elevate to get started.
Speaker 2:Everything discussed during the level up podcast with me, duane pierce, is based solely on my own personal experiences and those experiences of my guests. The information, opinions and recommendations presented in this podcast are for general information only, and any reliance on the information provided in this podcast is done at your own risk. We recommend that you obtain your own professional advice in respect to the topics discussed during this podcast.