Young Blood - Men‘s Mental Health (video)

Nic Bloom is a mental health trainer and speaker who lives to hit the message home to young people. Nic witnessed his mum's mental health struggles throughout his youth and was fascinated by the problem he couldn't fix... He was there for a close friend throughout his 20's, who ultimately died by suicide after years of distress, a tragedy that's had an immense impact. The last 24 months has been a transformational time for Nic. Motivated by the difficulties faced by those close to him and the desire to something more, he stepped away from an unfulfilling career and took the leap into the mental health space where he's now having an impact at schools and organisations across Australia.

Brendan Walsh is an adventure athlete who holds the Guinness World Record for the Fastest Crossing of America By Bicycle, one of the great feats of endurance he’s taken on in the name of raising mental health awareness. Brendan’s just published a book, 'For Those Who Can't', chronicling his remarkable journey from his long struggle with mental illness and suicidal ideation, to taking on the world on his bike. Brendan’s lost friends to suicide and very nearly lost himself, but he’s still here and he’s on a mission to help make a change.

Damien Rider is a multiple world record holding adventure and extreme sports athlete and a world renowned wellness and mindset coach. 

This man recently skydived off the top of a hot air balloon at 7 and a half thousand feet - he’s pushed a 3 tonne truck down the Gold Coast highway - skateboarded for 56 days through the Mojave desert and completed an entire marathon carrying a mattress on his shoulder and that's not all…

Damien pulls off these mind-blowing feats to prove nothing is impossible and he does it all in the name of raising awareness for survivors of complex trauma like himself.  Damien suffered horrific child abuse throughout his young life and grew up without the tools to make sense of what happened to him… He abused drugs to try to escape and ultimately made multiple attempts on his life before beginning his truly extraordinary turnaround. He’s been crowned Men’s Health Man of the Year and is a 2 time Australian of the Year nominee. You’d be hard pressed to find a story more worth hearing than this one…

Corey Boutwell is a very different man to who he was not all that long ago… These days Corey’s a professional fitness model, a high performance coach and a content creator dedicated to building and promoting all aspects of health. But when he was 16 he was diagnosed with depression and spent much of his teenage years in a fog. Things spiraled in his early twenties when Corey found himself unable to break out of being suicidal - hiding it from everyone until he told the right person. Corey used to wake up and go to sleep not wanting to be here. Now all he wants is more time to live the life he’s built. No man is free who is not a master of himself…

Sam Koslowski is co-founder of The Daily Aus, Australia’s leading social-first news service, delivering news geared towards a younger audience with an emphasis on positivity. Sam broke away from the the path he was on, feeling like he was playing a role that wasn’t right for him, working as a corporate lawyer and hating it. As someone with his own history of anxiety, the constant negativity and fear mongering of mainstream news was particularly noticeable to Sam and he realised those same feelings were making other young people switch off from the 24 hour news cycle. So Sam and Zara Seidler made the bold move to launch their own news platform - that’s now an Instagram page, newsletter and podcast that reaches a quarter of a million young Aussies each day. The Daily Aus is the disruptor proving it’s possible to stay informed and stay positive.

For decades, Matt Sinkovitz had a porn addiction that hung over his life like a dark cloud, until he found the tools and the discipline to master his compulsion. Now Matt’s on a mission to help men everywhere end their damaging relationship with porn and get their lives back. He’s adopted Buddhism and uses meditation, mindfulness and purpose to help men break free of the habits that hold us back. He’s the host of the making peace with porn podcast and run’s a men’s support group of the same name on Facebook. Porn poses a serious problem for many young guys around the world and its insidious influence is constantly growing. We may not realise it but our relationship with porn flows into the rest of our lives, and can negatively affect us in many different ways - but if its an issue for you, you don’t have to be a victim.

"Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little." - Epicurus

Dylan Conway is the creator of 'Brothers N Books', an Instagram community based on sharing lived experience stories that’s on a mission to make reading cool. Dylan got hooked on books while he was stuck in hospital for over a year recovering from an unlikely condition. Reading gave Dylan something constructive to when he desperately needed it. Unable to work on his body like he always had, he levelled up his mental fitness instead and it’s changed his life. Brothers N Books invites followers to share stories about tough times they’ve been through, linked to the books that’ve helped them overcome their struggles. It’s a great idea and Dylan is great bloke - you can tell I loved recording this one - hope you enjoy it too.

Arman Vestad is Young Blood’s first international guest, hailing all the way from Norway.

He’s been a drug addict, a dealer and all round criminal who was in the game for a decade till he did time in prison after being caught supplying guns used in a murder…

Arman was lost and hopeless till someone showed faith in him and gave him a chance to apply the skills he’d developed in the underworld to business.

Since those dark days, Arman’s gone on to become a family man, a public speaker and a mental health advocate who’s currently running across his home country on tour. Arman’s proof that it’s never too late to change your life.