Following the Men, Hardship and Triumph series of podcast interviews, this is the second series of Shooting the Breeze with Clement podcast called Men, Parenting and Triumph. 

In this series of interviews, Clement talks to different people to get their understanding of the difficulties that they encountered with regard to the subject of male parenting and how they handled the situation. 

In this episode, Clement speaks with Mateo who hails from Manila, the Philippines. Mateo moved to Sydney in 2016 to pursue and complete an Economics degree. During university he was involved with the Economics Society where he had his own podcast series, College Life. After university, he spent time doing PR consulting work in Malaysia and the Philippines, returning to Australia in 2019. Mateo currently works with a major bank, helps with the operations of a dance school, and is completing an acting course. In his free time he reads philosophy, humanities/modern history, science fiction, working out at the gym and spending time with his lovely girlfriend. 

Mateo discusses growing up in a household with domestic violence, sensing conflict from a very young age, walking on egg shells,  the shattering of his concept of an ideal family and his adultification. He discusses what he learnt from his parents' relationship and what he would do differently. He also discusses the healing of the relationship with his father as an adult. 

Summary of discussion:

To listen to other podcasts in the series, go to clementdjaja.com or type "Shooting the breeze with Clement" on your favourite podcast app. 

The Men, Hardship and Triumph podcast series is a series of interviews with men as a resource for other men navigating the minefields of modern life. The men interviewed in this series talked about the difficulties of their lives, how they got through them and looking back, what strategies they used to survive the hard times. 

In this summary episode I’ll be discussing the recurrent themes that were mentioned by a few of the guys in the series. The way I look at it, if different people come to the same conclusion about a strategy that they found helpful to navigate this tough world, surely this tool would be useful for another person, right?

Today, I am shooting the breeze with Robert Merrett, an Adelaide based Counsellor, Mental Health Coach and author of two books. Rob has also managed many programs such as Alcohol and Other Drugs, low-intensity CBT and an Aboriginal Post-Released programs. He is currently the Service Delivery Manager for a not for profit organisation called Skylight Mental Health. I have known Rob for quite a few years and have always found him to be a very thougthful and wise man. I brought him in to hear his wise councel on the strategies that the gentlemen mentioned. 

The points we discussed:

Rob also mentioned his own toolbox which contains some of the points above;

The books mentioned in the discussion:

This brings me to the end of the Men, Hardship and Triumph series. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I did creating it.

The Men, Hardship and Triumph podcast series is a series of interviews with men as a resource for other men navigating the minefields of modern life. The men interviewed in this series talked about the difficulties of their lives, how they got through them and looking back, what strategies they used to survive the hard times. 

In this episode, Clement shoots the breeze with Reverend Bill Crews AM. Bill is the founder and chairman of the Exodus Foundation, a charity that assists homeless and abandoned youth. The foundation ran the Loaves & Fishes free restaurant in Ashfield, NSW,  which feeds 1000 people each day until it closed due to COVID March last year. It now provides free meals through food vans as well as providing dental, medical and welfare services for the homeless and needy. The foundation also run an outreach program for homeless youth.  

Bill has received many recognitions including being voted Father of the Year, Humanitarian of the year, being included in the National Trust of Australia's 100 "National Living Treasures", named as one of Australia’s 100 most influential people, and was appointed a member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his over half a century of tireless work with the disadvantaged and  with homeless youth. He was the subject of a documentary film titled A War of Compassion that came out last year, and he is currently hosting the radio program Sunday Night with Bill Crews on Sydney radio station 2GB the largest Sunday night listening audience in the history of Australian radio.

Bill has a book titled “12 Rules for Living a Better Life” which is a very honest, frank book about his life. A must read for people to understand his philosophy of Do as well as Reflect! 

A summary of his strategies and what he learnt are listed below;

1. To have a good psychotherapist to clear the baggage we carry from the past

2. To forgive because it frees and allows him to move forward

3. To have mentors because they give him additional ways of looking at the world

4. To surround himself and to cultivate friendships with good people because they help him grow

5. To let go of what he loves because if he held on to what he loves, they will go away

6. To discover himself so that he could become strong in himself

7. That pain and suffering is just the other side of love

8. To meditate on the temptations that are around

9. That crisis can either break you or break you open!

10. To learn to say “yes” to everything

11. To own up to his mistakes and be willing to apologise and listen to the harm he's done with his mistakes

12. To push through the darkest hour because there usually is a dawn at the end of it

13. To always appreciate what he has 

To listen to other podcasts in the series, go to clementdjaja.com or type "Shooting the breeze with Clement" on your podcast app search box.

This brings me to the end of the Men, Hardship and Triumph podcast series. I will do a final short episode tying up all the points that were mentioned by multiple guests which show that while individual people may have some ways of surviving difficult times, there are also some ways that seem to be quite universal. 

I really would appreciate any kind of feedback from you so that I can improve these podcasts. You can email me on [email protected]. 

My next series of podcasts will be titled “Men, Parenting and Triumph” discussing issues that men deal with while parenting. Hopefully, like in this series, the interviewees in “Men, Parenting and Triumph” will have some good strategies they used that listeners can also use to make their lives easier and more meaningful.

The Men, Hardship and Triumph podcast series is a series of interviews with men as a resource for other men navigating the minefields of modern life. The men interviewed in this series talked about the difficulties of their lives, how they got through them and looking back, what strategies they used to survive the hard times. 

It is also a resource for men who are suffering from being separated from their children so that despite their suffering, they will still be able to do what is right by the children regardless of their circumstance, as well as for men who grew up in less-than-ideal family conditions to not repeat the mistakes of their parents hence breaking their intergenerational cycle of suffering.

In this episode, Clement shoots the breeze with Josh Creasey, a friend and an ex-colleague from their work together delivering a CBT coaching program for Beyond Blue a few years previously. Josh was also a personal trainer and a student of Exercise Science at university who enjoys mixed martial arts. 

In 2018 Josh was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) which included multiple periods of being placed in mental health facilities due to having thoughts of suicides and having attempted suicide. At that time, Josh also struggled with alcohol addiction. 

Josh discusses his journey through managing his alcohol addiction, being suicidal and receiving a diagnosis of BPD, going through Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) to treat it. He touches on some of the differences between DBT and CBT, on learning to discard black & white thinking and lastly, on the negative impact of social media.

A summary of his strategies and what he learnt are listed below;

1. To delay the starting time when the drinking is to start to develop resistance to the urge to drink

3. To have a sense of responsibility/rule for his clients which stops him from drinking before the last client of the week

4. To change the function of drinking from being an escape to being a social one

5. To surround himself with good people as his support network

6. To understand what his drinking triggers or drinking patterns are

7. to accept help from others when he needs help

8. To take the time and effort to find a therapist that’s a great match for him

9. To look for resources or programs to suit his Mental Health needs

10. To extricate himself from environments that are not good for him

11. He advises that if you need help to not be afraid to reach out! There is a lot of help out there

12. To not compare yourself with others, especially with what you see in social media. 

13. To generate acceptance of yourself internally, not to worry about opinions of others, especially from strangers 

To listen to other podcasts in the series, go to clementdjaja.com or type "Shooting the breeze with Clement" on your podcast app search box.

The Men, Hardship and Triumph podcast series is a series of interviews with men as a resource for other men navigating the minefields of modern life. The men interviewed in this series talked about the difficulties of their lives, how they got through them and looking back, what strategies they used to survive the hard times. 

Also a resource for men who are suffering from being separated from their children so that despite their suffering, they will still be able to do what is right by the children regardless of their circumstance, as well as for people who grew up in less than ideal family conditions to not repeat the mistakes of their parents to break their intergenerational cycle of suffering.

In this episode, Clement shoots the breeze with Ian Seggar who owns and runs The Learning Experience International, a successful boutique global management consultancy firm. Ian is an experienced international facilitator and conference speaker who consults in leadership and personal and business effectiveness. He has authored award winning training courses and seminar content over the last 25 years for clients across the world, with an audience that ranges from board level to junior staff. 

Ian discussed surviving through moving to Australia without his family, having to rebuild his business from zero to what it is today and the experience of losing most of his life saving through a trusted person. 

A summary of his strategies and what he learnt are listed below;

If you are interested in Ian's book Ten Minute Tactics please register your interest on tenminutetactics.com

The Men, Hardship and Triumph podcast series is a series of interviews with men as a resource for other men navigating the minefields of modern life. The men interviewed in this series talked about the difficulties of their lives, how they got through them and looking back, what strategies they used to survive the hard times. 

Also a resource for men who are suffering from being separated from their children so that despite their suffering, they will still be able to do what is right by the children regardless of their circumstance as well as for people who grew up in less than ideal family conditions to not repeat the mistakes of their parents to break their intergenerational cycle of suffering.

In this episode, Clement shoots the breeze with Raf Sanchez, the director of Go Dance, a latin dance school in Sydney, Australia. Raf talks about growing up in a family with domestic violence, leaving home at the age of 15 and relying on life as a parent. Raf also discusses his strategies for dealing with mental health issues, drug and alcohol, and his dream project to break the cycle that turns today's victim of domestic violence into tomorrow's perpetrator. 

A summary of his strategies and what he learnt are listed below; 

To find out more about Go Dance, go to https://www.godance.com.au/ 

The Men, Hardship and Triumph podcast series is a series of interviews with men as a resource for other men navigating the minefields of modern life. The men interviewed in this series talked about the difficulties of their lives, how they got through them and looking back, what strategies they used to survive the hard times. 

Also a resource for men who are suffering from being separated from their children so that despite their suffering, they will still be able to do what is right by the children regardless of their circumstance as well as for people who grew up in less than ideal family conditions to not repeat the mistakes of their parents to break their intergenerational cycle of suffering.

In this episode, Clement shoots the breeze with Ash Rhodes, former Western Suburbs Magpies and Catalans Dragons great. Ash talks about growing up in a small country town, playing football in Sydney and France, and the horrific injury that almost cost him his football career before it began.  

Ash also talked about his parents' influence on his character, and the importance of having honour and integrity in everything that he does. 

A summary of his strategies and what he learnt are listed below; 

1. to not take what you have for granted

The Men, Hardship and Triumph podcast series is a series of interviews with men as a resource for other men navigating the minefields of modern life. The men interviewed in this series talked about the difficulties of their lives, how they got through them and looking back, what strategies they used to survive the hard times. 

Also a resource for men who are suffering from being separated from their children so that despite their suffering, they will still be able to do what is right by the children regardless of their circumstance as well as for people who grew up in less than ideal family conditions to not repeat the mistakes of their parents to break their intergenerational cycle of suffering.

In this episode of Shooting the Breeze with Clement, Clement is joined by Ian Morris from Morris Performance Basketball. Ian is a performance coach and model from New York, USA who now lives in Sydney, Australia. Ian reminisced about growing up in a broken home in a tough neighbourhood, being an African American, his college days, migrating to Australia and now having created a thriving basketball community in Sydney. 

A summary of his strategies and what he learnt are listed below;

For information on Ian Morris, https://www.morrisperformance.com.au/

The Men, Hardship and Triump podcast series is a series of interviews with men as a resource for other men navigating the minefields of modern life. The men interviewed in this series talked about the difficulties of their lives, how they got through them and looking back, what strategies they used to survive the hard times. 

Also a resource for men who are suffering from being separated from their children so that despite their suffering, they will still be able to do what is right by the children regardless of their circumstance as well as for people who grew up in less than ideal family conditions to not repeat the mistakes of their parents to break their intergenerational cycle of suffering.

In this episode, Clement shoots the breeze with his high school friend Steven Prescott, discussing their friendship, the hardships he went through in life and the strategies he used to not only survive, but to triumph against them. 

Steven discusses arriving in Australia in the early 1980s as a young teenager with little English, difficulty with being unemployed and being married early and the subsequent marriage breakdown and how he got to where he is today, a very contented man.