About Us
We are passionate about raising awareness, breaking the stigma, promoting positive mental health, and helping develop skills to
Thrive not just survive!
Your Host
Wayne has been 4wding and camping since his young days. He has led family groups socially to both local and remote locations such as Cape York and the Simpson Desert, and professionally with small groups since 2021. He has a passion for the outdoors and a particular passion for men being real. Wayne is a qualified social worker, a licenced Mental Health First Aid trainer, and is continuing his studies in counselling. His aim is bring the outdoors and inner being together in these tag along tours with a difference.
WHAT WE DO – WHY WE DO IT
What
We offer a variety of events including week-end adventures, retreats and discovery workshops to suit just about everyone.
We can also custom plan a trip just for you and your mates/family/business or community group, or attend your camping event to run some experience workshops.
Drawing on my offroad, outback and remote travelling experiences, and my studies in mental health and counselling, we will venture out to make connections with nature and adventure, and also spend time over the weekend taking the opportunity to discover and make a deeper connection with our inner self.
The guided conversations over the weekends will be based on the strong connections between the adventure, our nature experience and our own life journey, so you can head home with increased knowledge and skills on how to not only manage the tough times in life, but also to thrive not just survive.
Why
In Australia, 3249 people died by suicide in 2022 – that’s almost 9 people every day, and around 75% are men! According to Beyond Blue, men are 3 times more likely to die by suicide than women. They also say that men are nearly half as likely to seek help for mental health conditions. Statistics – Beyond Blue
My own story aligns with that second statistic. If you are like me, you tell yourself you have it all together, yet deep down you know you don’t. It was only after I reached a breaking point that I was forced to stop and try to put the pieces back together. I was fortunate enough to have some friends around me to help, and I also sought some professional help.
So while the statistics are stacked against men, we recognise that we are all in this life together. 1 in 5 Australians will experience a common mental health illness at some point. We are all susceptible to the belief that mental health will never effect me, or that I have it all together, but that we can all do something to strengthen our resilience and prepare ourselves for what life often throws at us.
Men are far less likely to seek help for their mental health
Bush Adventure Therapy – Individual member
Wayne is an individual member of the Australian Association for Bush Adventure Therapy (AABAT), now known as Outdoor Health Australia.
AABAT aims:
- To promote Bush Adventure Therapy as a credible and beneficial form of therapeutic intervention
- To refine and uphold safe and ethical practices within the Bush Adventure Therapy community
- To provide opportunities to network, share, analyse and promote stories of success
- To maintain an open forum for discussion and exchange of resources amongst the BAT community
- To represent the community and practice of BAT to relevant professional bodies, associations and organisations
