Over the last week, I have traveled around South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria speaking and have witnessed first hand the effects that one of the worst droughts in history is having on rural and regional communities. I have heard some heartbreaking…

Dairy farming can be a challenging business, with mounting business and seasonal pressures, focusing on how you are travelling as person and the state of your mental health can at times be neglected. I understand this all to well, this was me, focusing…

There is an undeniable bond between humans and their pets, whether you love dogs, cats, birds, ferrets or cows, for those who have pets, they can play a massive role in your life, they are part of the family but they also have a positive role to play in…

It was fantastic to join Christina Canters on this episode of her Stand Out Get Noticed Podcast. Christina and I met a few years ago at a charity event we both spoke at, and I have followed her work helping people become more confident and use their voice to…

It occurred to Pooh and Piglet that they hadn't heard from Eeyore for several days, so they put on their hats and coats and trotted across the Hundred Acre Wood to Eeyore's stick house.

Inside the house was Eeyore. "Hello Eeyore," said Pooh. "Hello Pooh. Hello Piglet" said Eeyore, in a Glum Sounding Voice "We just thought we'd check in on you," said Piglet, "because we hadn't heard from you, and so we wanted to know if you were okay." Eeyore was silent for a moment. "Am I okay?" he asked, eventually. "Well, I don't know, to be honest. Are any of us really okay? That's what I ask myself. All I can tell you, Pooh and Piglet, is that right now I feel really rather Sad, and Alone, and Not Much Fun To Be Around At All.

With the recently, much publicised, high profile mental health battles and suicides in the news, sadly it reminds us that we still understand so very little about the individual battle that someone experiencing anxiety and depression goes through. Often to the outside world things can look normal, hidden behind masks the illness is silent and invisible. For the person who is struggling with depression or anxiety the battle is real, it can be like Sleeping with the Enemy.

Mental illness doesn’t discriminate, the thing that you rarely hear in the news, is that mental illness and suicide is common and doesn’t just affect high profile people, across the nation the facts are alarming.

Resilience, persistence and determination are the three words that describe Victorian mental health advocate, and professional speaker, Warren Davies.

Warren, who speaks under the banner ‘the unbreakable farmer’, recently addressed a group of farmers on the Darling Downs to highlight the importance of mental health issues by telling his own compelling story of a failed suicide attempt.