From the age of 16, Michael was struggling mentally. Growing up in a small country town he was uneducated and scared about seeing his local doctor for his mental illness as he thought the whole town would find out about his issues.  In this episode, Michael tells his story from start till now where he is giving talks to crowds of people about alcohol, drugs and mental health. Although I've heard it three times now I still get something from it and feel extremely grateful for my life and the people around me. Michael and I have a chat about the importance of having coping mechanisms or good healthy habits in place to stay on top of your mental health. We all have the best qualification when it comes to mental illness and that's two ears. We chat about a recurring theme that keeps popping up in all my podcasts and that's the power and the importance of vulnerability and Michael encourages everyone to talk sooner... don't hit rock bottom. You can find Michael and his new clothing line @michaeldonehue and @_journeyapparel_ 

I finally got the chance to sit down with Daniel and pick his brain and find out more about his story. I've heard bits and pieces over the past year and have seen the way he conducts himself but I've never had the chance to chat with him until now and what better excuse than to make a podcast out of it. Daniel has had so many life experiences from studying accounting to going on exchange and travelling the world to being an Outdoor Educator to what he does now which is managing Accommodation Services here at Bendigo. Through hearing his story he talks a lot about failure, rejection, resilience, drawing on experiences to stick with it and hold on until the tough times pass. So many life lessons in this chat with him. I hope you can all take something away from it. 

I apologise about the 2-week delay in episodes, but I'm now back and boy I have a good one for you all today. Greg is a 25 year old (as of today) Youth Pastor at the Harvest Church in Horsham who is a very strong advocate for empowering the youth. Something he won't bring up in conversation but I believe is a credit to who he is, is that Greg was the award recipient of Horsham's Youth Citizen of the year in 2015. I've also admired what Greg does in the community and in this episode we unpack that a little more and hear the reason's why he is doing what he is doing. We also talk about taking responsibility for your actions, the importance of having a civilised but difficult conversation with someone who is on the opposing side of your belief, and having an open mind, the youth's biggest challenge which is the fear of being miss understood, and lasting something I love to talk about... gratitude.  Please go check him out @greg_mckinnon_

Scott is an everyday human who has been through some tough times but has now turned his life around for the better. He shows up every day with a simple message on his Facebook lives on how we can improve our mental health right now. In this episode, Scott and I cover a lot to do with mental health and he discusses how people can come out of their dark places because he's been there and knows what it's like. If this episode has brought anything up for you please speak to someone or have a think about what strategies from this episode you can apply today. I encourage you all to connect with Scott on either Facebook, Instagram and now TikTok by searching Scott Keating

I’ve been waiting to have this chat with Stefan the day I met him which was on the 5th Feb. During the session my fellow student leaders and I had with him, he literally verbalised the thoughts that had been going through my head over the summer period. It allowed me to process my busy brain. He is a very deep thinker and at the end of the podcast, we actually talk about how we as a society need to become philosophers and discuss the big esoteric topics in life in a safe environment so we can create a fundamental infrastructure to latch onto to help us understand the isness of being.

There were two words that stood out the first time I met Stefan. Shame and vulnerability. Ever since then these two words have been popping up in my life everywhere I look. Shame is basically the precursor for disconnection. Vulnerability is the birthplace of change, innovation, joy, creativity and fun.

Shame is very isolating and dark but the moment we are vulnerable and spread light onto our shames the less you have. Stefan refers to this as burning your wood.

We delve deep into these two words and hopefully sum it all up at the end on how you can dumb down these big topics and apply strategies to your everyday life’s. Check out Stefan and the work he does on his website http://stefanbramble.com/

This was such an epic chat I had with Dylan. Initially, I was just meeting up with him to chat about how I can do more in the space of mental health and in particular men's mental well-being and how Dylan can assist me in that space. From there it turned into recording a podcast about all things mental health and meditation. Dylan opens up about his own past struggles and how his pathway of pursuing a sporting career quickly turned into a pathway of bringing awareness to men's mental health. He explains 5 really keys parts that he believes contributes to a healthy mental state and explains in detail what you the listener can do right now to apply these to your daily habits. We talk about how society isn't necessarily facing a depression epidemic, we are more so facing a loneliness epidemic which leads to mental health problems. Lastly, he talks about everything to do with meditation which I agree with him, is so crucial for your own mental state.  Go check out Dylan on Instagram @theonlyroos and also @themomentumlifestyle

Ang (pronounced Ange) is a 23-year-old, 4th year physio student who has done more things in her short life than most people. I didn’t realise it was her birthday on the day we recorded this, so I am so thankful for her making time to meet me. This was the first time meeting her and I felt like I’d known her for years which is a credit to her open and non-filtered personality. Apart from the constant background noise of birds and children Ang and I have an amazing chat about what sparks her internal flame. A lot of the chat is centred around the youth as both Ang and I are young people, passionate about inspiring other young people. We talk about her life story so far, why taking a gap year is the wisest decision young person could do, the power of self-reflection, how to push past the pressure of society and why you shouldn’t fear failure, how to get your dream off the ground and make it a reality and all things in between. I could’ve sat there for ages talking to Ang. Everyone must follow her on Instagram @ang_foot as she is one hilarious and two very motivating. If you want to listen to more of Ang listen to this Seize the Yay podcast https://open.spotify.com/episode/3p1NZILOkPWukHtmZZekS9?si=pGg6BcjKRfqTRadFKrWk0Q

This one is a goodie, definitely one for the record books even though I only have 3 now. Skip is the most humble and down to earth human being who has centred his life around the community. He is one of those people who is making a real change to not only his community but to the youth in it by teaching them the power of focus, concentration and defeating fear through his religion of skateboarding. I'm so grateful that he opened up in this podcast on a deeper level because his story gives justice to who he is today. Although the podcast goes for over an hour every minute of it is worth listening to as he talks about: pushing past self-doubt; power of positivity; the importance of community and how to find your's; the reason why there are so many troubled youths out there today; his timeline metaphor to use instead of comparing yourself to others; be nice and be kind to everyone as it will come back to you someday; if you want something so badly there is always something there so turn over every stone and don't give up on searching for it. 

Dylan is a 19 year old who had the guts to turn his life around when things weren't feeling right.  Now on a journey to "inspire the youth to do whatever they want and not let society tell them otherwise". After making the decision to turn his life around he's tried numerous avenues until he found the podcast and digital creation. He's now consistently putting out positive content on Instagram and has his own podcast where he's interviewed some amazing guests. A genuine bloke and truly inspiring. Check out him on Instagram @dylan.nicholson.journey and have a listen to his podcast at Dyl Journeys Podcast. We talk about the world of social media how it can have a positive and negative effect on people, what Dylan does for his own mental health and how he checks in with his mates, getting past that self-doubt road bloke and the power of surrendering to it, a fantastic approach to setting goals, it's ok to not know your life's purpose and what every teenager should be doing if they don't know what to do in life.  I'm so grateful he made the time to come on for my first podcast. Hope you all enjoy it just as much as I did recording it.