THE BRIEF: This wasn’t from a client, it was something I felt strongly enough about, that I wanted to do something about it myself.
In regional Queensland, young men are taking their own lives at some of the highest rates in Australia. The challenge wasn't a lack of support services. It was a lack of conversations. How do you make mental health support feel relevant, local and accessible to the men who need it most?

THE INSIGHT: In country towns, meaningful conversations rarely begin in a counselling room. They happen over a beer. At the pub. Around familiar faces and trusted places. The opportunity wasn't to create a new support system — it was to bring support into the spaces where men already felt comfortable talking.

THE IDEA - Legends of the Yarn, A grassroots mental health initiative designed to turn the local pub into a catalyst for conversation. By weaving support, storytelling and connection into everyday pub culture, the program helped remove the barriers that often stop men from reaching out.