Talk to a mate
Thursday, March 26, 2015 at 9:00AM
Dads on the Air in 2015, Depression, Gender & Masculinities, Male-Friendly Services, Men's Health, Men's Sheds, Mental Health, Mentoring, Rural Males, Suicide

With special guest:

Just about everything starts with our health, it is so important. The Regional Men’s Health Initiative in WA identifies three parts to our health, namely physical, mental and social/spiritual.

Owen Catto has worked for the past 7 years in men’s holistic health and wellbeing across an enormous geographic area in Western Australia. In his work in regional centres as well as remote outstations what he has found out about the men is that “we are all blokes” and therefore the strategies for empowering men are similar wherever he finds them.

In the program today our guest talks to us straight after attending a men’s breakfast in “the middle of nowhere”. We talk about the importance of the social/spiritual side because if that is not right then a man is less likely to seek help for physical problems such as possible prostate cancer. And when things go really wrong in the social/spiritual part then we risk adding to the dreadful statistics for suicide.

Owen is well-qualified to talk to men in language they understand and we can all learn from the emotional context he provides for us. We talk about communication and what to expect from men, the risk-taking and winning psychologies hard wired into males and how this can be a time bomb if there are emotional issues lurking as well.

Owen brings us an authentic voice from the romantic vision we have of outback Australia. He speaks eloquently and practically about the inner drivers of all men and what is being done to assist them in adjusting to the changes being experienced in our family relationships and overall wellbeing.

Owen Catto

Owen Catto is a farmer’s son from Morawa a region approximately 370 km north of Perth. After completing a Bachelor of Business in Agriculture Owen worked in the Dairy Industry Authority as a research officer. He then went into farming with his father who is still a mentor figure for him. For the past 7 years Owen has been presenting a range of educational programs and strategies for rural and regional men, their families and communities.

Song selections by our guest: Father and Son by Cat Stevens & American Pie by Don McLean

Article originally appeared on Dads on the Air (http://www.dadsontheair.com.au/).
See website for complete article licensing information.