With special guest:
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Matt Barwick
… in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
In his book Life in Limbo Matt Barwick says that men in their desire to be alpha-male typically hide behind an impenetrable wall of machismo. So if anyone asks “How ya going?” the response is most likely going to be a stoic “Yeah everything’s fine.” No-one must see any sign of weakness or fragility, particularly male friends. The result is that most men avoid open and honest communication about physical or mental health.
This book changes that expectation in a big way. Matt writes openly, candidly and even dispenses some laid back humour along the way in describing his own extreme personal experiences.
Having emerged from his personal dark night of the soul Matt now has a clear vision of his mission. Through this book Matt provides a voice to help and inform the many among us dealing with the some of the biggest issues a person may have to face in a lifetime.
There is a serious lack of resources available on infertility and mental illness because not many young Australian males want to go into print on these topics and yet the statistics demand our attention. 1 in 6 Australian couples suffer from infertility, 1 in 5 people between the ages of 16 and 85 have mental illness in any one year and 1 in 30 aged between 16 and 85 have attempted suicide at one time in their life.
Matt’s story is inspiring and insightful. This story will assist anyone who has ever confronted these issues or who knows someone that has. In our program today we hear directly from the author about what drove him to write this very important work and what we should be doing. We can hear in his voice where he has been and we get some practical tips on how to keep going when a personal setback lets loose demons inside the mind.
Matt Barwick
Matt Barwick was born and raised in Canberra and has worked for over a decade for the Australian government. He was motivated to share his unique story when he realised how few titles, from young, average Australian males, were available to help and inform those dealing with infertility, family suicide and mental illness diagnosis. Having lived through these experiences and written about them in his daily diary when his life started becoming memorable for all the wrong reasons, he shares his story from an emotive, less clinical, sufferer’s perspective. Throughout his remarkable journey, he has constantly looked for positives and focused on what makes him most happy: music, surfing and the unconditional support and love of his wife and soul-mate, Ali.
After all the battles described in the book Matt and Ali were blessed with a son.
A third of the author’s royalties from the sale of this book go to Beyond Blue and SIDS and Kids.
Song selection by our guest: Come Together by The Beatles
Note: This program is an encore presentation of the one aired on 12 March 2015.