In this episode of Work Conversations, Gavin Becker sits down for a conversation with Gus Worland, founder of the Gotcha4Life Mental Health Foundation and former Australian radio and TV personality. After losing a very close friend and life mentor to suicide,

In this episode of Work Conversations, Gavin Becker sits down for a conversation with Gus Worland, founder of the Gotcha4Life Mental Health Foundation and former Australian radio and TV personality. After losing a very close friend and life mentor to suicide, Gus found himself co-hosting the 2016 ABC series Man Up, which explored the notion of toxic modern masculinity and men’s mental health issues – challenging masculine stereotypes and getting men better connected and breaking the silence around suicide.

Following the success of Man Up, Gus founded Gotcha4Life, a not-for-profit dedicated to taking action and having a positive outcome on men’s mental health. Today, the foundation drives real change and funds educational workshops and innovative training programs throughout Australia that build mental fitness in all individuals, organisations and communities to activate strong, open and binding relationships.

Rather than referring to “mental health”, Gus says he prefers the term “mental fitness”.

“I believe it’s better to call it mental fitness because the term mental health takes you to the bottom of the barrel, whereas mental fitness allows you to look at where you are on a sliding scale, just like your physical fitness, and shows you what you need to work on. And I believe we need to put more time into our mental fitness than our physical,” he says.

Gus discusses how important both maturity and passion have been in his journey to establishing Gotcha4Life. Now in its fourth year and having raised over $5 million for preventative mental health, Gus explains it’s a sector that can definitely be emotionally taxing. Despite this, he is as dedicated as ever about communicating the importance in men reaching out if they are struggling internally. Or as he puts it, changing the stereotype from “man up and shut up” – something he says a lot of men have been taught – to “man up and speak up”.

In September 2020, Gotcha4Life partnered with Weld Australia and produced a report with data showing that those who work in the trades sector are 70 percent more likely to commit suicide than their behind-the-desk counterparts. It was a statistic Gus says shook him to the core. He believes this high number is due to what he describes as the “blokey” nature of the sector that feeds into toxic masculinity.

With more and more young men moving into jobs within the trades sector, Gus says it’s important for Gotcha4Life to be able to educate them about what it means to “be a man” in the modern sense of the word, that is, being able to be open, honest and vulnerable. For employers in the sector who want to do more to strengthen their employees’ mental fitness, Gus suggests that education through courses and training on the topic of mental health is key. It’s not just about saying you’ll act or putting it in an organisation’s mission statement, it’s about taking effective action to prevent instances of suicide and poor mental health.

“I know there are jobs to be done, but if you can have your employees mentally fit then you’re going to have so much more productivity in the long run. You’re really looking after the entire person, not just their pay packet… if you’re working on their mental fitness you’re being the best possible employer you can be.”

Gus speaks on his frustration with the constant talk of bettering mental fitness but seeing so little action taken towards effective change. “I want people to live it, walk it, volunteer and work, work, work on it… action not words.”

To find out more about Gotcha4Life, visit the website. To find out more about Gus Worland or to reach out, find him on LinkedIn here. If you or anyone you know is experiencing mental health issues, you can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 for confidential crisis support.