The CEO of Destination Southern Tasmania has completed 4,187 pushups in the past 24 days to raise money and awareness for suicide prevention, driven by the loss of three people close to him.
He finished the challenge today, after setting out with a target to complete 3,307 pushups to match the number of Australians who lost their lives to suicide in 2024.
He has since raised more than $3,300 for Lifeline Tasmania.
Heroys said the challenge was deeply personal.
“I lost a good friend of mine two years ago on June 4 2024,” he told Pulse.
“So he is part of the 3,307 people that lost their lives to suicide in 2024.”
He said he also lost his best friend to suicide when he was 18 and never met his brother-in-law, who died by suicide at age 19.
“There’s a trail of wreckage that happens in suicide that is not recognised, I suppose,” he said.
“And so I’m quite passionate about trying to raise money and awareness, particularly especially for men’s mental health.”
“We’re not good at talking about it. We’re really not.”
Heroys took his pushups to locations across Tasmania, including networking events, in the gym with musician Keli Holiday of Peking Duk, the opening of the library at Mona and to the summit of Kunanyi/Mount Wellington.
He said each location was chosen to highlight different things that support mental health, from exercise and music to art and connecting with nature.
Heroys said he hoped the challenge would start conversations about managing mental health before people reach crisis point.
“I hope that we can start conversations where people can manage their mental health before they need the services of Lifeline,” he said.
“The ideal situation, and I’m sure Lifeline would agree, was that we would never need them.”
Lifeline receives more than 1.3 million contacts to its crisis support services each year and is available around the clock for anyone experiencing emotional distress.
