“LOL, YOU LOVE me? You been hacked?”
I shortly defined to my brother that no, I hadn’t been hacked. And that my textual content was truthful, although, I hastened so as to add, that whereas unsolicited, it wasn’t fully spontaneous. It was the work of 1 Gus Worland.
For these of you who don’t know who Worland is, he’s the founding father of the Gotcha4Life Foundation, an organisation that goals to help males’s mental wellbeing and fight the alarming rates of suicide in Australia, which take seven males and two girls day by day. Worland began the motion in 2017 after the loss of life of an in depth pal.
I used to be attending the group’s annual lunch, by which the Gotcha4Life Basis, Chemist Warehouse and Gillette groups be part of forces in honour of Males’s Well being Month – a day devoted to objective, connection, and open dialogue round psychological health.
As is his customized, Worland, a former host of Triple breakfast radio host and TV persona, requested everybody to textual content the next message to a pal or liked one:
“I like you. I miss you. See you quickly”.
Jonathan Moran, Gus Worland, Hugo Toovey, Neale Whitaker and Trent Cotchin on the Gotcha4Life Basis lunch.
He’d accomplished the identical factor eventually yr’s lunch, so I knew it was coming. “It really works,” doesn’t it,” Worland stated to me afterwards. I needed to agree it did. Final yr I despatched the textual content to a mate who’d moved to Bathurst. We’d began to lose contact however the cringey textual content prompted him to present me a name. This yr I despatched it to my brother and referred to as him later that evening to elucidate the context. It’s a tiny sliver of connection however typically that’s all it takes to brighten somebody’s day, Worland says.
This yr’s occasion launched the 2025 Gotcha4Life marketing campaign, bringing collectively an inspiring group of voices for a uncooked and transferring panel dialogue led by journalist Jonathon Moran and Worland, military Main and most cancers survivor, Hugo Toovey, design skilled, Neale Whitaker and AFL premiership captain and podcast host, Trent Cotchin.
The Gotcha4Life Basis makes use of funds raised to develop and ship important preventative psychological health campaigns, workshops, applications and sources in colleges, sports activities golf equipment, workplaces and communities Australia-wide. These applications are designed to construct emotional muscle groups, strengthen social connectedness, and encourage help-seeking behaviour so everybody, however males, particularly, are higher geared up to get by way of life’s ups and downs.
This yr additionally marks the second version of the Gotcha4Life Males’s Care Containers. These curated containers not solely supply premium males’s grooming merchandise but in addition act as a dialog starter and an effective way to inform a person in your life that you simply care and are there for them. The Gotcha4Life Males’s Care Field is accessible on-line at Chemist Warehouse for simply $19.99.
Chemist Warehouse has been a serious associate of Gotcha4Life since its inception, a collaboration that has raised over $6.1 million to help psychological health initiatives throughout Australia. Till July 9th, 5% of gross sales from chosen manufacturers, together with the proceeds from ‘Mateship’ wristbands bought at checkout counters and until donations at Chemist Warehouse shops across the nation will go instantly in direction of funding the important work of the Gotcha4Life Basis.
Boxer Harry Garside arrives on the Gotcha4Life Basis lunch.
“It’s a trigger near our hearts, and an organisation we’re so proud to associate with as soon as once more. Trying ahead to seeing what we are able to do subsequent!” stated Mario Tascone, Chief Working Officer of Chemist Warehouse.
Worland expressed gratitude for the continued help: “We couldn’t do what we do with out the help of Chemist Warehouse – our largest supporters from the beginning. With their assist, we’ve reached over half one million Aussies by way of our applications and workshops. However that’s only the start – there are such a lot of extra folks we have to attain to make sure nobody has to fret alone.”
The goal, he provides, is to make strides towards a extra mentally match Australia and get that quantity right down to zero. And it may well begin with one thing as easy, and foolish, as a textual content message.
Associated:
Breaking the silence: a paradigm for saving a life from suicide
A doctor’s own bitter pill to swallow: “I struggle to talk about mental health”
