Many professional athletes go on to second careers in Hollywood or politics – but former pro surfer Cooper Chapman’s dreams are a little different. 

After seeing firsthand how depression affected his father, and losing two family friends to suicide – not to mention his own anxiety and stress Cooper developed a passion for mental health that has sparked a new career. 

In today’s episode, Cooper talks about his mental health organization, The Good Human Factory, the pressure of success in pro surfing at 14, and his own struggle with mental health that started when he began basing his self-worth on his surfing achievements.  

 

“I started to struggle a little bit with my identity. I felt a bit of shame, like being around people at my local community when I wasn't succeeding as often. And then I went and spoke to my sports psychologist about how I was feeling and what was going on. And he's like, man … so many people base their self worth and their overall well being on their achievements and their successes. He said, I want you to take this forward in your life and it's gonna change the way you think. I want you to base your life on how well you live to your values. And that was this light bulb moment that completely changed my life.”

 

Cooper also shares his take on the vast mental health spectrum, the importance of making gratitude a daily habit and why everyone should have the tools to help themselves when their mental health needs a little help. 

 

“We are all on a spectrum of mental health to mental illness. And we're all moving up and down it from time to time. And what I'm trying to do [with The Good Human Factory] is, I like to think of it like, life is almost like a treadmill that's dragging us from good mental health to mental illness. We're all walking against it, just at different paces. And I'm trying to give people the skills to be able to walk against it at a faster pace so that when life does speed up and throw some of these really difficult times at us, you can walk back against it.”

 

In This Episode

• (06:27) Cooper’s youth surfing career and winning a national title at 14
• (9:50) The pressure of early success and how he got into mental health 
• (12:30) Cooper’s “lightbulb moment” 
• (16:00) The sports psychology approach
• (18:43) Transitioning from a sports career to a career in mental health, and starting The Good Human Factory
• (22:17) A typical Good Human Factory workshop
• (31:47) The mental health spectrum
• (40:12) Competing against your own success
• (47:55) Making gratitude a habit

 

Our Guest

Former pro surfer Cooper Chapman started The Good Human Factory after seeing how mental illness and suicide affected his father and close family friends. 

Through The Good Human Factory, Cooper has helped thousands of Australian students and teachers practice mindfulness and gratitude, and increase their mental strength and resilience. 

 

Resources & Links

Off The Cuff

• https://www.offthecuff.fm/
• https://www.youtube.com/c/OffTheCuffwithDannyLoPriore
• https://www.instagram.com/1and1otc/
• https://www.instagram.com/dannylopriore/

Cooper Chapman

• https://www.instagram.com/cooperchapman/
• https://www.instagram.com/thegoodhumanfactory/
• https://www.instagram.com/goodhumanspod/
• https://www.thegoodhumanfactory.com/