Talk2MeBro is tackling mental health, suicide in the Illawarra

Talk2MeBro was an idea borne out of heartbreak after the suicide death of Keiraville man Matt Simpson in 2018.

The charity was formed by his wife Kristy just months after he died, the baton has been passed to friend of the couple, and Simpson's cousin, Jack Brown.

Read more: National coach thrilled at the future ahead of Illawarra rugby young gun

The aim is simple and complex at the same time - to implement early intervention strategies to reduce the number of males who die to suicide, and to smash stigmas around mental health.

Talk2MeBro may have started in Wollongong but it's gone national, and in the past five years almost 30,000 people have been helped by its workshops, catch-ups and training sessions.

The Snowy Mountains weekend earlier this month was to train the charity's next facilitators (or custodians as they call them).

Not only did they learn materials to help others struggling with mental issues, they took cold plunges, swum in ice lakes, hiked and did breath work sessions.

"The waterfall was super special, it was sub-zero water and a huge challenge. The only way to overcome it was as a unit and with our breath," the charity's president Mr Brown said.

"It's the same way we can deal with problems we have in life, with our bro's by our side and breathing.

Read more: Going back inside the 'gates of hell' at Port Kembla

"If we get better in uncomfortable situations, it affords us the opportunity to help those who may be struggling and we need to have a tough conversation with, as well as ourselves.

"We really wanted to pull back the layers, get down to our base of being real with absolutely everybody because if we can be real with each other, we're a lot more likely for that to rub off on other people around us."

Stigma surrounding mental health issues is a massive issue, Mr Brown said.

Many think "it's weak to speak" or that if you're a masculine man you can't let your shield down.

"It's completely ok to be masculine and be the big muscly dude, but with that there comes times where you will be vulnerable," he said.

"An analogy we use in our workshops is [if] you had a broken leg, you go to the hospital and no-one would say anything. But as soon as you say the clouds are over for a few days and you go to a psychologist our opinion shifts on what that looks like."

Read more: Much-loved Cliff Road building crumbles as demolition crews finally move in

Talk2MeBro teaches men and women what vulnerability looks like and the healthy coping strategies you can adopt to deal with issues.

Also, that you're not alone and there's others who are are experiencing similar things and feelings.

"We really believe in the power of unity of understanding that you're not the only person experiencing it, whether it's a broken leg or these thoughts. Suicidal thoughts occur in over 50 per cent of humans in a lifetime," Mr Brown said.

"Getting the thoughts isn't an issue, it's what we do when we get these thoughts and how we can process them and how we can move forward from there."

Talk2MeBro runs runs regular men only and women only catch ups, along with once-a-month catch ups for everyone.

Find Talk2MeBro online, on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Reading this on mobile web? Download our news app. It's faster, easier to read and we'll send you alerts for breaking news as it happens. Download in the Apple Store or Google Play.