After watching too many mates struggle in silence, Hobart man Chris Kilpatrick decided it was time to get men talking.
The construction worker started Banjo’s Banter 4 Blokes, a fortnightly men’s group where men meet over coffee and breakfast to talk about life, work and mental health.
“It’s always been put down for men to kinda just grit their teeth and show up and just get on with it and not really talk about it,” he told Pulse.
“I’m in the construction industry and suicide’s really prevalent in the construction industry.”
What started with 12 men at the first gathering has now grown to 30, meeting fortnightly at 6:30am on Wednesdays at the Banjo’s Bakery Cafe in Lenah Valley.
Kilpatrick said the early start was deliberate.
“There’s no excuses then,” he said.
“You can’t say that you got something on.”
Coffee and food are covered by Kilpatrick’s business and the owner of the Banjo’s franchise, so cost is never a barrier.
One story stands out for Kilpatrick – an international student studying in Hobart who found the group through a community Facebook page and had no support network.
“He’s got no way of getting there at that time of the morning,” Kilpatrick said.
“I’ve picked him up the last couple of mornings.”
“He comes along and engages and he’s loving it and is trying to build a new network for himself of support in the community.”
The group, only five gatherings old, occasionally brings in guest speakers to share their story.
This week, former St Kilda footballer Steven Baker shared, including the impact of losing close mate Shane Warne and falling into alcohol and drugs.
“It just goes to show, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from or who your mates are, that you can be impacted by the same stuff,” Kilpatrick said.
The group is also looking at running sessions on alternate weeks at another location on the eastern shore, so men would have a gathering to attend every Wednesday.
Kilpatrick said the conversations had shifted over time from surface-level chat to something more meaningful.
“You create this space and you consistently show up every fortnight and the guys that are coming back in are beginning to have real conversations and that’s what it’s about,” he said.
To find out more, search for Banjo’s Banter 4 Blokes on Facebook.
