The Laughter Clinic
The Laughter Clinic Podcast brings a refreshingly different approach to mental health education. Your host Mark McConville, is an Australian professional Comedian of 25+ years who also has a Masters Degree In Suicidology from Griffith University. Mark delivers you evidence-based self-care strategies, curated research insights, and meaningful conversations that inspire, educate and entertain.
The Laughter Clinic
Love, Laughter, and Belonging: How One Mentoring Program is Transforming the Lives of At-Risk Youth with John Godwin.
What if the root cause of disadvantage isn't a lack of money—it's a lack of love?
In this deeply moving episode, Mark McConville sits down with John Godwin, founder and CEO of Inspiring Brighter Futures Foundation, to unpack a values-first mentoring model that is changing lives.
John shares the story of how his organisation has grown to over 600 volunteer mentors across Queensland, working with at-risk youth, domestic violence survivors, ex-offenders, and long-term unemployed individuals through their evidence-based Onward and Upward program.
• laughter as prevention and treatment for stress and disconnection
• humour rituals to build team trust and safety
• self‑love, belonging, and values as core protective factors
• founder’s journey from teacher to CEO and program architect
• the eight‑session mentoring structure and journalling
• values, role models, and reframing negative thoughts
• outcomes in schools, apprenticeships, and graduation
• mentor selection, training, safeguarding, and debriefs
• limits of mentoring and when to refer to clinicians
• scaling through principals, private support, and local networks
• a ten‑year vision for school‑to‑work pathways
To Learn More about Inspiring Brighter Futures Foundation
Visit: https://inspiringbrighterfutures.com
Follow on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/inspiringbrighterfutures
Follow on Instagram:
@InspiringBrighterFutures
Website: www.thelaughterclinic.com.au
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thelaughterclinicAus
"If you or someone you know needs support, please contact one of these Australian mental health services. In an emergency, always call 000."
Lifeline Australia
Phone: 13 11 14 (24/7)
Web: lifeline.org.au
Suicide Call Back Service
Phone: 1300 659 467 (24/7)
Web: suicidecallbackservice.org.au
Beyond Blue
Phone: 1300 22 4636 (24/7)
Web: beyondblue.org.au
Kids Helpline (for people aged 5-25)
Phone: 1800 55 1800 (24/7)
Web: kidshelpline.com.au
MensLine Australia
Phone: 1300 78 99 78 (24/7)
Web: mensline.org.au
SANE Australia (complex mental health issues)
Phone: 1800 18 7263
Web: sane.org
QLife (LGBTIQ+ support)
Phone: 1800 184 527
Web: qlife.org.au
Open Arms (Veterans & Families Counselling)
Phone: 1800 011 046 (24/7)
Web: openarms.gov.au
1800RESPECT (sexual assault, domestic violence)
Phone: 1800 737 732 (24/7)
Web: 1800respect.org.au
Headspace (youth mental health, ages 12-25)
Phone: 1800 650 890
Web: headspace.org.au
13YARN (Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander crisis support)
Phone: 13 92 76 (13YARN) (24/7)
Web: 13yarn.org.au
Music by Hayden Smith
https://www.haydensmith.com
Welcome to the Laughter Clinic Podcast with comedian and psychologist Mark McConville. Bringing you practical, evidence-based self-care strategies, the latest research in mental health, along with conversations that inspire, educate, and entertain. This is the Laughter Clinic Podcast with your host, Mark McConville.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, John Godwin, welcome to the Laughter Clinic Podcast. How are you going? Great, thanks, Mark. How are you? Very good, mate. I'm I'm very excited to have a chat with you today. Founder and CEO of Inspiring Brighter Futures Foundation. We met, what, probably halfway through last year when I was fortunate enough to come to a Laughter Clinic for you guys and just fell in love with everything that your organization does, mate. So we're going to talk all things inspiring brighter futures today.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, that was a great night that you hosted on our behalf.
SPEAKER_01:It was a good it was good fun, mate. What a great bunch of people. So very appreciative of your time, mate, coming in today. So uh before we get into that, we start all our conversations centred around the saying laughter is the best medicine, right? Here's a saying that has been around for over 3,000 years, dates back to biblical times, and and now we have modern day research supporting not only the physical benefits of laughter, but the psychological benefits of using your sense of humour as a coping mechanism and building resilience. So when you hear the term laughter is the best medicine, what does that conjure up for you?
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, it's both prevention, and we hear a lot about more need for preventative medicine.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And it's also a treatment. So constantly laughing actually sets us off on a pathway to actually releasing all our barriers and and just being back to our our very primal self. And then you see it at eulogies, and I was at a at a at a an 18-year-old's funeral last week, and uh some of the stories that brought around a great sense of humor, and I might share one of those later, actually released the stress uh from what can be a very traumatic, stress distressing time.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, funerals are horrible at the you know, at any time, but at a funeral of l of a young person is incredibly tragic as well, isn't it?
SPEAKER_06:And there's a road there. But we use from your your uh session that you ran with us and our our mentors and facilitators, every Monday when we meet, someone different has to come up with a comedy section or a comedy or a story that they think's funny and share it with the team. And the effect that that has on the culture, the effect that that has on the following conversations, and the build-up in trust, because people are being vulnerable, sharing what makes them laugh, and then when they see other people laugh and enjoy it, that actually gives them a sense of belief, engagement, belonging, trust. And then from that, we're able to uh have some really objective conversations on how we can focus on our purpose, and that's to to inspire brighter futures to move people's lives onwards and upwards.
SPEAKER_01:Mate, that's incredible. So this has come about since came in the laughter clinic for you guys, that thought.
SPEAKER_06:You set off a whole series of ideas.
SPEAKER_01:That's fantastic.
SPEAKER_06:I love that. And we want to transfer that into the school programs. I mean, for kids to share decent humour, I mean, there's lots of humour out there where you're putting someone down. Yeah. And that's not real humor, that's a that's a put-down. But where they're sharing good, fun humour with others, uh, it builds up that relationship that uh takes them from that vulnerable, will they like this, will they not like that, which is actually a human condition, do they like me, do they not like me, yeah, to actually feeling appreciated and having that connection. It's really important, I think, for the mentor and the student or the graduate to uh experience.
SPEAKER_01:Wow, that's yeah, that's that's a whole aspect of it I I wouldn't have considered. But the fact that you guys took that stuff on board, and you know, I suppose that's and out from the laughter library that I was talking about, and you know, sharing laughter with all your friends and all that sort of gear, and and so uh the next week you kick that off. So Monday mornings is the is the laugh fest. That's how you that's how you start your week. That's fantastic. I love that. So has there has there been any uh any pushback from any of the people going, oh I don't know if I've you know, yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Well, look, we've we've probably got a fruit salad of a team, and so all different personality types, which makes it makes it important for a really strong culture. Yeah, and there's always people that are reticent thinking, oh, I'm not sure if my dry humour will come across. And I haven't come across a bad skit yet.
SPEAKER_01:That's awesome. Yeah. So who's the funniest? Do you reckon? Who's got the best sense of humour, do you reckon? Oh they're all funny, they're all funny.
SPEAKER_06:Someone brought uh David Strassman out last uh Monday, yeah. That was hilarious.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, awesome. The teddy the teddy, yeah, the uh ventrolicas guy.
SPEAKER_06:The clean version.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, that's it in the workplace. You've got to be very mindful of that sort of stuff. Mate, um it means a lot to me the fact that you guys took that stuff on board and because I had I had such a wonderful night doing the laughter clinic for you guys and all your mentors and all that sort of stuff, which we're gonna talk about very shortly. So um I I appreciate the invite, obviously, firstly to come and and do the laughter clinic for you guys, but the fact that you've taken it on board and it's it's really helped your organisation, it that really means a lot, mate. I'm thank you very grateful for that. So, people that are listening, you know, you've got a background in teaching and and you know, now you're with this you've got the organization which is all about mentoring. If there were people listening, you might have one thing that you could share with people that you want them to take away from a conversation for the young people in their life, you know, the adolescents, uh juveniles, whatever, you know. What would you want people to know about trying to mentor a young person?
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, look, I um it's funny, it came up in a conversation with and I don't like name dropping, but I need to share this in the context of what I'm doing.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_06:So a former federal treasurer, and I was having I was lucky to have a small dinner with him. Many this is probably six, seven years ago. And I was sitting amongst ten other, and they were they were all high-flying businessmen. So I was representing a foundation, a very small one in Queensland, and he asked me the question what is the cause of disadvantage in our world?
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_06:And I said it's a lack of love. I said it's not a lack of money, it's a lack of love for self and the ability then once you love yourself to be able to love other.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's pretty insightful, mate.
SPEAKER_06:So if we were to uh touch everyone's hearts and get them to love themselves in order to love other, or even start off at the very simple be kind to self so you can be kind to other.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well. And how was that received?
SPEAKER_06:The treasurer, he had tears in his eyes. And then he started to share what he did down in his electorate in Kuyong, and how he was involved, and how his mother was uh worked in positive psychology, she was a professor at the University of Melbourne, and how she worked on this idea of positive psychology of actually seeing that we are worthwhile and being grateful for what we have, and then how that can transfer and engage with others in community and family.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, there's a lot of there's there's a lot of talk around self-care at the moment, you know, and and that really is uh at the core of it as as opposed to, you know, self-care, looking after yourself, you know, exercise, whatever it is that you do physically, you know, diet, all that sort of stuff, but taking it to that next level and self-love, that really is, you know, knowing that you're worthy of love and and then putting that out there in the world, that really does take it to the next level, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, you you look at social media and it's people are trying to get love through aesthetics, it's how am I looking rather than how am I doing.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And doing is doing for self and doing for other, serving other.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And that's where happiness comes from. And a lot of people I think get caught up with fitting in as opposed to belonging. When you belong, it's tied to values that people have similar values and you really belong. And we find that's funny. Mentors who are from totally different walks of life working with some of the young people and older people, they haven't got anything in common apart from being present in that moment and then actually going on a journey to identify which other's values are and how they're so aligned in many cases.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, right. Yeah. Yeah, there's a s there's a real need for the that belonging at the moment. Like of all so we started this podcast in August last year, and you know, you get the stats of how many downloads each episode has had, and that sort of stuff. And the one episode that has stood out a a big amount as opposed to like downloads, has been an episode called I think it's uh Belonging in Connectedness, the hidden mental health benefits of sport.
SPEAKER_06:Mm-hmm. And and culture, music.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you know, and like the jer you know, I talk about at the time the jersey effect, you know, like if you've got a you're supporting your football team and you walk down the street and you see someone coming the other way and they've got the same so same jersey as what you you know, you don't know this person, but all of a sudden you feel colle connected to that person and to something bigger. Or even if they have a jersey of one of your oppositions but it's the same code, you still feel that connection to something bigger. That's right. You know, yeah, and music, yeah, like you said, music, go to a concert and you know, fifty thousand people all jumping up and down in the same place.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, yeah. It it's it there's an interesting road to that, and it it is that connection that people find. And when we find that the the students or the participants and the mentors are going through and identifying values, they're actually forming their own code of belonging.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_06:And that is at a really deep level and it it actually creates trust.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And and so I suppose the sporting clubs having the jersey, well, if it's the Broncos, Broncos stand for a certain set of values.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Of of which we're all normal. There's been challenges to those over the years.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:But that's where that connectedness is. Yeah. And that's really important.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. I went to visit my uncle. He's in his hundredth year, and he's in an aged care facility. And uh there was a figure, or might have been about ten years ago in the Australian, where forty percent of people in aged care do not get a visitor in a 12-month period.
SPEAKER_03:No why.
SPEAKER_06:So we call that the yeah, the forgotten generation or the misbelonged generation. Sad, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01:Isn't that a sad indictment?
SPEAKER_06:Well, you can't take time to go and visit an uncle, an aunt, a grandparent, yeah, parent in a 12-month period.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Well, having having been through that a couple of times with my parents, putting them having to be in a position to to have them in those homes, you know, like it's we felt an obligation to try and get, you know, at least one family member had to try and contact them. You did we didn't go more than two days without someone contacting, being them in being in there, you know. It was, you know, before my mum passed away, she had uh she had vascular dementia, and you know, we got her a really nice place on the broadwater down on the Gold Coast, and you know, go in there, put her in a wheelchair, wheel her out across the road, we'd be sitting at the beach, and mum would sit there and she'd go, Wow, you know, like I'm gonna retire, I'm gonna move here, would I retire? And I'd spin around and I'd go, Well, in actual fact, you live there. You know, I do.
SPEAKER_06:You know how and I guess we're talking about some some bad ends, but my father-in-law died last year, and we said to our four boys that the biggest fear for someone who's dying, they need to know that they're loved and that they're not alone.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And if you can help them feel loved and not alone by just being there, yeah, you'll help that person go through the next gate.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Wow, a hundred, a centenarian in the family. That's pretty cool. So, like you look back and you think what the stuff that he's lived through is just incredible.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, yeah. He was telling us that he uh his father had an office overlooking Sydney Harbour, and he was there the day they put the bolt when they joined both sides of the Sydney Harbour on the with the bridge.
SPEAKER_01:Wow, what a moment. What a moment in Australian history.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, and he said he's was there and they watched the animals being taken through the Sydney Harbour to Toronga Park Zoo. And they're setting up Toronga Park Zoo. He watched them on the barges.
SPEAKER_01:Wow, all these things you don't take into consideration, he's live through it. Yeah. Wow.
SPEAKER_06:We heard them about six or seven times in that two-hour sitting.
SPEAKER_01:But did he uh you know, has he ever written it all down?
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, yeah, he's written the history.
SPEAKER_01:Lovely, that's great.
SPEAKER_06:Not sure of those stories, but he's written the history of the family, and he's a good man.
SPEAKER_01:Wow, that's fantastic. Talking about good men, you are a good man, mate.
SPEAKER_06:Every now and again.
SPEAKER_01:So I wanna I wanna I'm dying to hear the story about how you go from you know, corporate executive to school teacher and now CEO and founder of Inspiring Brighter Futures Foundation. Was there a moment, like obviously, you know, going from corporate to teaching, maybe that, you know, career change, whatever, but to to go from teaching to actually starting an organization which is focused on mentoring and helping disadvantaged youth, was there what what inspired that? Was there a moment that something happened and you went, you know, as a society we need to do better, there's a gap and I need to try and fill it? Yeah, it's funny.
SPEAKER_06:So I was first started off, I was teaching. I started teaching about 1991 at a school in Brisbane, all boys' school in Brisbane, and I got sick of telling 12-year-old boys how to behave. I felt like I was a bit of a hypocrite. And I thought there's got to be a better way. I've got to be a better way where they take charge of what they do. And I was I was studying a master's abuggerall while I was teaching, coaching five sports. I was a bit busy.
SPEAKER_01:What was the masters in?
SPEAKER_06:Business administration, I call it a masters of bugger all. Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And uh I was reading Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I had just written uh read uh Dalai Lama's Art of Happiness.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Uh being an Augustinian school, so the Pope is an Augustinian, and Augustine wrote a book called Confessions, and all these books had some similar themes: Dalai Lama's, Art of Happiness, Confessions, and Seven Habits. So I merged all that together. Covey helped provide some of the structure. The art of happiness and confessions was all about understanding who we are and what our values are in order to serve others, because serving others from a good space is where you get happiness. Yeah. And I figured if the boys are happy, they're obviously well fed, they were from lucky families, but the next step was to making sure that they had a self-esteem and they actually thought saw themselves as worthwhile. Right. So we would start them off on this journey, and they would develop vision statements, and then we'd have those villains' vision statements, we'd do it twice a year, and whenever they'd muck up, I'd say, mate, bring your vision statement here. What happened what did you say you wanted to be and where you wanted to go, and what just happened then? And they'd were in charge of fixing up and repairing harm from what they did. So that was about ninety-five. And getting them to take some type of control over and responsibility.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, cause and effect type of yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Instead of big brother, it'll be government telling you how to behave.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:We've got so many resources. Now I know that a lot of the people we work in today's programs, the trauma that they've experienced needs a lot more support. Yeah. But the young lads we were working with, this was grade seven. I had parents coming back when they were in grade twelve and said, Whatever you did to my son in grade seven, you changed his life. I have I stopped having to tell him to study. I stopped having telling him to do the jobs around the house. He took ownership.
SPEAKER_01:How rewarding. You know, like that must be something you hear that and you must be so proud to have had that effect on I'm a little the the the more it happens, the littler I get and the better it is.
SPEAKER_02:Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Because we it just can't be five hundred kids a year. We want it fifty thousand kids a year that actually taking the chance to trust themselves and know that they're worthwhile so that they can actually make a greater input change and help others in our communities.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. They're pretty good books to uh I've read two of those. One, the uh Stephen Covey's Seven Habits. I actually have just read that for the second time recently. So it's a cracker of a book to go back to.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And and the Dalai Lama's Art of Happiness is a brilliant one as well. What was the third one?
SPEAKER_06:Confessions.
SPEAKER_01:Confessions, yeah. No, I haven't read that one.
SPEAKER_06:It's a man's journey in identifying what his weaknesses were and what he's sorry for. And then actually finding that by doing good for others, he's living out his faith, he's living out his will.
SPEAKER_01:Wow. Yeah. I remember I can't remember who said this, but I'm sure I heard recently someone say that uh the quickest way out of uh depression or a bad mood is to do something good for someone else.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. And plan your way out and help someone else.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So how do you go from how do you go from helping these guys to starting the foundation though?
SPEAKER_06:So look, I had a number of years in business cleaning up businesses that weren't doing so well. Yeah. And I found that the last probably five, ten years we were we would go and visit clients around the country, and the first ten minutes would be about what our products did and our services did, and the rest would be talking about what our foundation was going to do as a volunteer for over twenty years. And a friend of mine who's Glenn Richards, who set up Green Cross hospitals and and merged them with Pet Barn, uh, he said, John, stop effing around and do your passion. And so he supported me to to really uh work full time in inspiring brighter futures.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And we're lucky enough. There's I think there's six hundred and three volunteer mentors around Queensland.
SPEAKER_01:Six hundred and with twelve more.
SPEAKER_06:Jody's working with another twelve, so six hundred and fifteen active volunteer mentors.
SPEAKER_04:That's amazing.
SPEAKER_01:That is amazing. And so uh foundation as it is now is that was that your vision back then to have, you know, mentors and be trained in a certain I know you've got your onward and upward program which I'll get you to tell us about what that what that looks like.
SPEAKER_06:So it look as it evolved we had Alethea Beatson who I taught with at Villanova Alethea's Artie's niece and a great girl she works out of Sydney now with doing the First Nations content for Spotify. Really okay and Amelia Robinson and the three of us founded what developed and I said look let's take our programs let's put this in as many schools as possible. And Alethe took what I had because it was pretty bland and was dry. You can imagine Augustine and Dalai Lama and Covey it was all it's all a bit corporate. Yeah yeah and Alethe put a real flavour through it and then with Amelia and I said I want this I'd love this to be in every school in Australia. I'd love every young person to learn the tools of identifying what they stand for and who they are role models in their life of who live those values so that they've got some filter or direction on how to live those values how to turn negative thoughts into positive thoughts to develop a vision or a blueprint for their life going forward based on I am which are their values I want to be regarded as which are role models or people that they look up to in their life of how they'd like to see them in a number of years' time.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And what's their purpose in life? How are they going to use their gifts to make their school, their family, their community better for their gifts.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And then how to set goals to achieve their values but how to act them. So we talk about SMART goals but the best way we find to develop and deliver a smart goal is to answer the questions why? Why is this goal important? What is that goal? When is it going to be achieved? Where is it going to be achieved? And what are the steps? How am I going to achieve that goal?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And then we love to celebrate but what happens if things fall over so what have you got to do to bounce back? Let's go back to goal setting. Yeah right and we I remember doing a cricket coaching course and Phil Jauncy spoke. So Phil does a bit of work with sports people and and he was talking about when he was a just a general clinician and when people would would ring him and say I'm going to end my life he'd say I want you to do me a favor. I'm coming around to see you but I want you to write a plan on how you're getting yourself out of this spot into a happier spot. And when he would get there they were happy if they'd done their plan. And so the planning our way but based on from the value that our values are good values. Now we work with ex-offenders we work with kids who are from very successful families we work with leaders in business we work with and even the mentors do this from all angles we work with domestic violence survivors there are five values that come up every time and that is gratitude or appreciation that is respect that is love that is family or belonging to those five come up every time in predominant numbers. Now yes there might be some sociopaths but deep down our source code is one of good too and when we actually realize that if we live our lives to our values and yes that doesn't mean that doesn't matter if we it doesn't mean we don't make mistakes it means that we are good to the core we've just got a bug fix. So our source code's good but our operating system's got a bug yeah so let's identify the bug yeah there's a great saying uh love the sinner hate the sin or love the sinner dislike the sin okay and we've got to learn to love ourselves but when we stuff up we don't need to shame ourselves yeah we just need to say well that was a bug I'm gonna fix it and I'm gonna repair the harm.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah yeah yeah so okay well we'll go on to the because those values that you're talking about the five is this form the foundation of your seven core values for inspiring brighter future so I've got to tell you when I was looking through these it did not surprise me having because I learnt about these recently when I was you know doing a little bit of background for having you on as a guest and then as I went through these seven core values not one of them surprised me having met yourself and and your team that night that's good to know you know so act with love search for truth beautiful love that one share hope which is so incredibly important in today's society because so many people are feeling a a lack of hope so that is that is a really big one. Live in community which is another one that I'm so supportive of because you know community engagement is everything.
SPEAKER_06:Create belonging what we spoke about before giving respect and being compassionate you know every single one of those is like it's it's a very it's a very competent they are you know I've got written here powerful it is a powerful framework you know oh look we're we're we're very I mean that these aren't uh unique to ourselves but um we broke them up into two groups so the first four act with love so we thought rather than just write love how do you bring the value of love so again people can write their values and that's how am I looking but how am I doings acting with it. So love is an action word so act with love search for truth. So the truth is is a journey we're all on um and we can have many many uh dry gullies in which we we think oh we'll find happiness and you you look at the evolution as as we grow up yeah at some it might be when you're 18 truth oh at the pub no it's it's an it's a constant search within yeah share hope and that's what we try and do with the programs let's plan our way and share hope based on our vision statements as we set goals based on our values to deliver our vision and live in community so how we're all different and we've got to to love the sinner dislike the sin we've got to love the people within our community and that's created by creating belonging so those four are lived out by creating a sense of belonging yeah by giving respect and being compassionate. Yeah yeah yeah it's a beautiful it's beautiful mate so where does the uh where do these core values sit in let's talk about the onward and upward the the eight week program what does that look like how does someone come to be in the program to start with as as a as a recipient of your services yeah so it it's interesting the mentors get out as much out of it as the participants so there's they come to us in a couple of different ways. So we work largely with schools because we talk about a village and the care that schools we work with and we can see that in the principals because the principals attend the programs.
SPEAKER_03:Really?
SPEAKER_06:We often know if we've got a career jumper or we've got a caregiver in a leadership of a school if we see them come down to the programs.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_06:Because we're dealing with the kids who are about to drop out of school. Really okay so they're the ones that are about to become a statistic in youth justice. Right. Or have probably started to become a statistic. So that's where we we work. And we find that in the schools that we work with I'm blown away by the love and the care and the capability and the quality of the teaching staff that we deal with. It's great isn't it and they choose the students. So they're generally tier two support the bottom half of tier two support so tier three support which is about two percent are the ones that have dropped out of school and are well known to the youth justice system. We've got them where they're just starting to be known.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_06:Tier one is eighty percent of the cohort they are well the whole school system and I call it a system unfortunately it's a very archaic setup dating back to the Industrial Revolution that they're 80% so they're the the school system supports them and that's fine. We deal in the probably the the bottom eighteen percent not the last two percent we deal in that bottom 18% but probably the last eight percent.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And the teachers pick them out.
SPEAKER_01:So when we say an eight week program what is an eight how many like is it once a week, a couple of times a week every day like what's it our the ones that we do in schools are eight sessions of 70 minutes and that fits within a school timetable.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And week one is it's all around a kitchen table concept so it's all around food because we remember perhaps some of the best conversations we've had with our parents or grandparents is around food.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Where we would get their wisdom. Yeah yeah and and so that starts off with a get to know you and you see the mentor and the and the mentee the student or the participant start to engage together. It's quite amazing that connection and then week two or session two we work on what are your values and there's a series of activities hands on activities which actually bring that out but I have never come across a young person that hasn't been able to at least list two or three values. Yeah right but there's activities which draw that out and the mentors actually for some of them it's the first time they've actually thought about their values. Really yeah and then we talk about role models people in your life so one of my role models is Neil Danaher now I've never met him but uh I gave we gave our sons the power of choice a book which is very similar to what we do in the program. Yeah and I say he's my role model and I show if I'm facilitating the session why he's my role model because he says you've got the choice to do the right thing in life you've got the responsibility to transcend whatever trauma and difficulty you have to become the best person.
SPEAKER_01:You don't have to be your past you can actually live your future and but they might have some some which is pretty powerful that is that in itself is pretty powerful because you know a lot of it comes down to risk as well you know because change is is risk you know and we live in a society now where everyone's we're all being told about mitigate your risk and and reduce your risk and reduce you know all of that sort of stuff. But we sometimes forget that risk is necessary and risk is being able to manage risk and weigh up a risk and still move forward that's where real growth happens.
SPEAKER_06:That's it. Yeah get be and comes back to a story I'll share about with Tim Franklin later later is be comfortable with being uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah and and so by identifying role models that have their values look we had one young lad had to go back to his great grandfather to actually find a role model in his family which is really it's sad. And and now sometimes role models aren't going to be perfect but they might live some values that you admire. So we are never going to be perfect. But they find role models and what that does is that starts them on a filtering process of people they want in their life and their sayings that you're the aggregate of the five people you hang around with the most spend time around them hopefully they'll start to live those values yeah and as I said those values of love family slash belonging gratitude slash appreciation truth slash honesty and respect if they can find if you can find people in your life that has those values you're gonna have a pretty happy life. Yeah that's right and uh not nice friends kind friends so nice friends don't tell you you've got a booger in your nose kind friends will. Yeah yeah okay yeah so it's not about being nice it's about seeing you become the best version of yourself. And so once they've identified that we then move into the third session which deals with how to deal with automatic negative thoughts and turn them into positive thoughts. And again we have activities and and situations that the mentor and the mentee can work through and the mentors will tell this is how I deal with a negative thought. Ash Barty's a great example about the imposter syndrome. Yeah and and we show them videos of people who have all these negative labels on themselves but only three people put a negative label on themselves but they had hundreds on them because we have a tendency to put ourselves down constantly in the 50 to 70 thousand thoughts that we all have in a day we only remember a small portion of those and generally 90% of those thoughts are the same ones we had last week. Yeah right but until we actually realize that those thoughts are not real we make them real so we've got a choice to make our negative ones real or our positive ones real. And as soon as we start identifying we've got a choice on what thoughts we attach our emotions to we can actually start to feel better believe better act better. So we're in control of how we think believe feel act and once you feel that it starts a snowball of positive behavior positive thinking and positive contributions to community and family and school.
SPEAKER_01:I I take it as you go getting them to do all this I take it journaling and getting them to actually write this stuff down as opposed to just sitting there thinking you know and I suppose you know for want of a better term I you know I suppose some of them may see it as homework or whatever but this is really life changing stuff so that real journaling aspect of of this isn't there well I was there was a a scroll down in Logan and the principal and the deputy thought we'll come and check these guys out and they came down first day of the group of ten seven of the students in year eight had a parent or parent incarcerated in jail.
SPEAKER_06:Wow these kids in the normal classroom would be running around on the desks flipping them swearing at the teacher not doing as they were told not going to class they came down to the room the kids were not only talking to their mentor they were writing in their activity book which is a journal and eating calmly the food that was around the table. That was in two weeks. Wow that's pretty amazing so that's the effect of love the vulnerability of a young person needing wisdom from a mentor who wants to pass on that wisdom. Those young people over blown away but we see that week in week out we see that with our gifted mentors and they're the best mentors we have are ones that think that they're not good mentors. Yeah right because the humility of just sitting and being not being paid with a young person and they think wow they're doing this for me they're giving their time for me. Yeah it's pretty powerful isn't it to support the wonderful work of the teachers and the leaders of that school it makes a real impact.
SPEAKER_01:So many things I want to unpack there. Okay but before before we get to the impact you know the school and the the mentors what is what does it look like on week eight in the last session? Because you know I I imagine that might be a bit emotional for for some of the participants knowing that their program has come to an end and you know they've uh they've spent the last eight weeks you know really connecting with this person. Yeah so what what does the last session look like?
SPEAKER_06:It's it's it's a it's it's also emotional for the mental as they formed a relationship. So what's it look like I'll give you a story young girl grade eight again for the first six weeks on her activity journal book she wrote her name as Ugly Right Okay and we we say it's not a should on your course so we don't say you should be doing this you should be doing that. If they don't want to be there they don't have to be there. Eight out of ten complete the course and so ugly was her name for the first six weeks week seven she wrote her name properly crossed out Ugly wrote her name week seven she started using her mentor's name. Week eight the school teachers and leaders had never seen this the young girl got up and read her vision statement they'd never seen her speak out aloud and in this room were her mentors and key people role models from each of the students' lives and we did that around a graduation meal and it was a high tea if it's all girls actually we did a high tea for all boys the other week too or a barbecue but this was around a high tea she got out and read her vision statement. Well the next term when we had an alumni she came and brought her friend to the facilitator and said my friend could really benefit from this program.
SPEAKER_01:Isn't that incredible so that's what it looks like. Yeah that's what it looks like that's that's great. And do you is there some type of follow-up we after after the program?
SPEAKER_06:Yeah so I was in Townsville before Christmas at graduation of some year 12 students that we started the program three years ago when they were in grade 10. Yeah and I said to them I said if you girls and boys graduate I'm coming to your graduation the great majority I don't know the percentages graduated and we had breakfast together be the days leading up and they started sharing the jobs or apprenticeships they'd lined up. Wow now they did not expect much of this cohort to graduate the boys that I was talking to you about that had a number seven out of ten had parents incarcerated they did not expect these grade eight boys to make grade ten. Really five graduated grade twelve another two had a premises had apprenticeship
SPEAKER_04:Isn't that amazing?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah, it was I I gotta tell you, I was very interested when I was looking on your website because you know, when you hear about people mentoring youth, you know, you might think of you know people struggling at school and doing this sort of stuff. But you know, when I was looking at the the list of the most vulnerable people that you can work with, you know, at risk, disengaged students, long-term unemployed youth, like you said, d survivors of domestic violence or possibly sexual abuse, ex-offenders, y youth that suffer from mental health issues and mental ill health. It's it's a real broad spectrum of people that you're you're connecting with in that age range. It must be challenging to what's we're talking before about building trust, right? But when these people may be the these young people may be like, you know, I'm I don't want to talk to another adult. I don't want to talk to I don't want to do another program, you know, like that that that must be a challenge.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, it's it it it is, and look, we've we've had a proportion of young people that haven't opened up until look, I just shared that story, her name was ugly until week six. Yeah. Didn't use her mentor's name until week seven. Yeah, yeah. And then blossomed. Uh we've walked into some really, really tough groups, and they couldn't think of someone who would be a role model. And that's where the mentor works gently with them because it's their journey. So a lot of schooling is about a systematic outcome that the principals in the schools get rated on. So they get rated on NAPLERN results, they get rated on ATR results, they get rated on school enrollment, they get rated on uh or or paid for outcomes related to uh the percentage that completed year 12. That's all system-driven KPIs. That's not kid-driven KPIs. And we know unless you work on the absolute well-being, and this is kids in all schools, if they don't know that they're loved and that they're safe, and education really is a journey that they should go on. And yes, I know that there's markers all along. I think from an education perspective, if we can go you you're looking at AI tools, you're looking at all the information that exists in our world. I think if we teach the kids how to love and love themselves and love other, how to learn and critique what they're learning based on their values and based on good values and how to love learning, I think we're gonna have a happier cohort of kids coming through instead of a marketing veneer that the Korea Mail or the media want to place on our education system.
SPEAKER_01:Well, let's talk about the education system because I you know I've had a small exposure to it by doing my life skills, so I've got a life skills masterclass for between 15 and 17 year olds. So I basically it came about as doing laughter clinics for teachers and them saying, This is pretty good, mate. Can you do one of these for our year 11 and 12s? And I so I designed that for them. But going into for you to have so many schools on board now, I know getting programs into schools is not easy. And geez, I tell you my I can't begin to tell you how much I'd take Mad off to you for having successfully got into these schools because just getting approval to run outside programs is it's an am it's a mammoth task.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, yeah. Look, it's word of mouth.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:It is word of mouth. I don't think we've done that.
SPEAKER_01:Did you have a champion for the cause inside the education department? Because that can make a big difference.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, look, it's it's interesting. We'll talk to regional directors or heads of independent school groups, and they really love the program, but they said it comes down to the individual principal that wants it in the program. Or there might be a guidance officer or a teacher, and then there's word of mouth amongst the schools. Yeah. So we've grown organically. Uh we've now had an absolute uh takeoff. Jody's done a great job, and before that, PRU had done a great job in building our mentor numbers. So that's less of an inhibitor now. So we're finding it's growing because the schools are seeing the value and they're seeing the value of the reporting. What is absolutely essential, and there's some schools that we we've will we find difficult to work with, is we are there to support the school and align to help the young people that are in their care. So we're part of a community solution that the school can't offer because they're within the bricks and mortar of a school, but we're bringing a community to them that has networks to work, has networks to other opportunities. I love seeing principals who are care driven as opposed to career-driven. And you can see the difference. Yeah, I bet. And it's the principals, as I said before, that know the names of the kids, turn up to the program, pop their head in, yeah, pop into the graduation or are part of the graduation. I see this around Queensland, Downswell, Morton Region, Gold Coast, Logan, Brisbane, Redlands. When they we know which ones are the in the care profession.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it makes a big difference. There's there's been times where I've done the life skills masterclass and had, you know, the principal there, the deputy principal there, the a lot of schools as you'd know now have psychologists on staff, you know, and so they'd come in. And then there's been other times where I've known that, you know, I was just I was a box that was ticked. You're a filler. You know, I was a box that was ticked, and you know, I had the teacher and the students, and that was it. Yeah. It's a big difference, isn't it?
SPEAKER_06:Uh look, there are so many outstanding educators, and yes, they're on a journey, and we just love there's so many committed professionals, educational professionals.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. The the results are so cool. Like, so what have I got here? 94% of graduates would recommend the program, so you can't argue with that.
SPEAKER_06:That's six percent didn't answer the question.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, they are adolescents after all, mate. Yeah. Which kind of goes uh funny we laugh at that because humor and laughter must be a great way to build trust with them, I reckon. Oh, yeah. Is that is that a thing? Like, do you can encourage your mentors to try and create that alliance, you know? Because we talk about in mental health and suicide, we talk about the therapeutic alliance, which is the relationship between the clinician and the patient, which is basically what your mentors are doing as well, isn't it? They're creating that trust. And we know in mental health that people that are tr treatment compliant are more likely to be treatment compliant if they trust the person that they're there with. Yep. And and you don't trust someone who you don't feel comfortable with and have a relationship with, you know. So, and and you know, I'm an advocate for using humor and laughter as a way of building that relationship.
SPEAKER_06:Look, I'm lucky I make sure that I facilitate at least one program a term. And and the importance of that is that you stay close to the delivery of your purpose. I don't like sitting behind sitting behind a desk. That's not me.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And I've got a very similar laugh to what's it, of the Adams family, what's the Hermann Munster? And and kids, when they watch me laughing because I've said something stupid or or I've some they've said something that's really funny. Yeah. I go into the Herman Munster and laugh, and they'll just You've got one of those laughs that can get everyone around you going. Yeah, and you know what? It's so relieving, it's so it just things melt off you.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah. So with all these statistics, you know, the 90 plus percent of graduates recommending the course. Is there and you've obviously got so many stories, but is there one that you could think of like where it was a huge transformation that that sticks with you?
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. Look, there's there's a few. There's a few. A longer term one was a young lad who we were working with him with a collaborative partner, and he was the oldest of six siblings, and they had been moved from foster home to foster home.
SPEAKER_03:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_06:And not together.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_06:So this young lad So the six were all split up. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, that's horrible.
SPEAKER_06:And but had stayed in some type of contact. Yeah. I'm not sure how that happened, but they'd stayed in some sort of type of contact. Anyway, he was we took him through the program, and it was a pre-employment program. And then he became a trainee in landscaping, and then we were building houses for people who didn't have homes by kids who didn't have jobs, and we were mentoring him there, and then he went into an apprenticeship, and he's now a trainer with that social enterprise organization. Well, he's next two oldest siblings, one is an apprentice plumber, and the other is in the Air Force. They followed his lead. Mum and dad weren't employed, but because he was able to reorganize and set his goals based on his values and the vision he had for himself, he was able to impact the next two. So it's interesting to see what will happen with the next four.
SPEAKER_01:Rising tide floats all the boats.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. We've had young kids come into the classroom rocking in their seats with their headphones on, refusing to engage with their mentor. Well, week eight, the headphones gone, they've never been seen again. And these young people have engaged with the school community. The principal of one of the schools said, In all my 30 odd years of teaching, I've never seen this.
SPEAKER_04:That's amazing.
SPEAKER_06:So the impact, and I know the mentor, he's actually my brother in one case. He is laid back. We've got dress rules generally, and it's the dress rules are a collared shirt, tailored trousers, and covered shoes. He turns up in a t-shirt and stubbies and thongs.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_06:And the impact.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Well, let's talk about these mentors because they are the they're the engine room, aren't they? They are. They're the engine room, they're the heart and soul. So when you first had this vision of bringing inspired inspiring brighter futures into the world and and going out into schools, it must have been very you must have thought, I've got to be really cautious here as to how I choose my the mentors and and that sort of stuff. Like right at the start. I'm gonna scare you. Like the like obviously there's a selection process, and you know, uh uh like I was talking to Jody about their like induction and stuff that that sort of stuff that they do and all that sort of gear. So what do you look for? What do you look for in these people?
SPEAKER_06:People who use their ears to their mouth in proportion.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_06:So two ears, one mouth.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Actually, look, we've got raging extroverts and we've got raging introverts who are mentors and facilitators. If they're there for the right reason and that is aligned with our values and our purpose to get people to see that they are loved and they're worth loving, and that they can make a difference with their gifts in our society. If that's why they're there, then it doesn't matter what your personality type is.
SPEAKER_01:How do you match them? Like that to me sounds like that would be a challenge to match the mentor with like, you know, because it they for all intents and purposes, it might be have all the best intentions at heart, and it's just they don't click, whereas, you know, two people might click.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. It's in some cases the teachers will say, look, we need a male mentor, or we need a female mentor for this particular person, or the employment service providers that we work with will make a suggestion. What happens in that first week is there's a series of activities where it actually becomes really obvious. It's amazing how nature works, where people are drawn to each other, and you watch the conversations, and then that's how they're matched, and then week two, they might start off in small continue in small groups, and then you see the evolution of the matching, and then the other bottom, the second half of week two and week three, they're with their mentor one-on-one working through the program.
SPEAKER_01:Wow. And the mentors the mentors themselves, like you said, get so much out of it. You like, yeah, I can't I can't begin to imagine what some of these people so do you encourage mentors that you know have their own children? Like, this does is there an ideal, you know, scenario?
SPEAKER_06:Just someone that shares the purpose and the values, yeah. And is there for other, not there for themselves. But one of our mentors is Andrew Slack, and he said, Johnny, I get more out of this than the program.
SPEAKER_04:Andrew Slack, why do I know that name? He's in media, is he media?
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, yeah, Channel 9, and also uh played a little bit of rugby.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And uh he said, I get more out of this. But that's a common call. So actually, we find our programs not only help the thousand young people that'll and old and participants that'll do the program this year, it helps the 615 mentors that will mentor this year. There'll be more than that. But that is the value. It's it's just not a one-way stream, it's a it's a it's a village engagement.
SPEAKER_01:So what is the uh what is the process of becoming a mentor look like? If someone rang up and said, Look, I'm interested in in being a mentor, how what's the journey look like to go from that phone call to them actually sitting down with a young person?
SPEAKER_06:So they we have weekly induction sessions where they get to listen and learn more about the program. We do a lot on safeguarding, uh, that is so important to make sure that they're the mentor is confident in our processes and we've got a safeguarding committee that uh has a lot of expertise in delivering and making sure that not only the Is this from like a mental health point of view? But also identifying all the various risks that may pop up and how to to work through it. We have very clear processes where we work in conjunction with the school to make sure that the young person is loved. And that there's no secrets. There's no secrets because if that young person's at risk at any way, or they're about to cause risk to others, actions are put or steps are put in place to show love and protection for that young person as opposed to to think they can't say it. Share. So we're very strong on that safeguarding. But it's a it's done in a way that's practical and supportive of them, so it's not scary. They then we've got online programs where they get to do the program before, and we take them through the program and step by step. Then we match them with a more experienced mentor when they go into a program, and but it's amazing because the program's really structured and that there's a a structure there. The beautiful part's the mentors. So the the program's the trunk, but it's the mentors, which is the the the branches, the the leaves, the flowers, and they work through it in a in a in a way that is the young person's journey, and they're just support they're not just, but they are doing the really important part of supporting them on that journey.
SPEAKER_01:So when when you've got the like you were saying, the sport systems in place, has there been instances over the years where you've had one of your participants and the mentors had to come and go, look, you know, this this young person needs some professional help outside of the scope of what I can offer. What what happens what happens from that moment onwards?
SPEAKER_06:So that's where we work with the school, and the school's aware of that. And we have we have relationships with outside psychology organizations. However, that's where we fit in. We're not we're not psychologists. We offer things that a psychologist and a caseworker can't do through a proper mentor relationship, which is a voluntary system, yeah, and we can often hear uh and give insights to the school that are valuable to them and which help them help the young person.
SPEAKER_01:And and what about support for the mentors themselves? Because I would imagine, you know, it can be a lot to take in when they're, you know, they've got these best intentions of helping these young people, and then all of a sudden they find themselves listening to what could sometimes be horrific stories or circumstances, you know. I'm I I suppose I over the years have you had people that have started out and then going, in actual fact this isn't for me. I I thought I could do this and maybe I can't, or Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:I think I think we've had about uh and we've been going for a while, I think we've had six people where we've said you're not made for mentoring.
SPEAKER_02:Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And we've probably there's three that I know of that have said it's not for me. And others, the one other ones that have have moved on.
SPEAKER_01:But you've got some support systems in place for the actual mentors themselves.
SPEAKER_06:Briefing sessions and debriefing sessions.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And then if there is a a situation or an incident that gets reported on and there's clear reporting guidelines, though they're gonna get a call from at least two of four people to make sure that they're okay.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, great.
SPEAKER_06:Um we've never had to go to the stage of bringing in psychologists to support them. Because there's the understanding that we're not counselors, we're not gonna solve this person's problem, but we're gonna take them on a journey and allow key professionals where required. To support that person on that next part of their journey.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. Yeah, wow, because it's so, you know, we're so governed and rules and regulations and everything at the moment. Like to be able to get this over the line and to actually have it be a thing, it's such a credit to you, mate.
SPEAKER_06:Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:Thanks. You know, because I can't begin to imagine the hoops that you've had to jump through to actually, you know, where do where does the approvals come from? Obviously, parents or guardians and schools.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, yeah. So the school vouchers for what we do. Yeah. And and obviously that includes the teachers and the leaders. Yeah. And then parents and guardians sign off on the forms. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Are they are they given the details of the mentor at that point in time that they're Right? No.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. Just that they're going to be a part of this program. Yeah, and there's mentoring involved.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah, okay. So tell me, tell us about Tim Franklin's story because this is this is uh one of the well, I'll let you tell the story because Tim Franklin's story is pretty amazing.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, so well I taught Timmy in grade seven. In fact, the first time we actually delivered this program was it was in grade seven in 1994, I think, 94 or 95. He finished school in 2002, so it might have been 95. And Tim, good guy. Tim, real good guy. And he finished school and became a lawyer and got caught up in bad ways. When he was in primary school, grade five, six, and seven, I'd coach the cross country. And Timmy would turn up, he'd be on time every training session, and he'd come and come close to last every time. But because he came to every training session, we would take him to the cross-country carnival, which was a day off from school, and we'd go to McDonald's on the way home. And that was a treat. Yeah. And we had a competition there for that didn't count for points. So kids that were putting in would put them into that so they could run and have a great day. Hitting secondary school, he's he's got scoliosis of the back, so quite a pronounced S shape in his backbone. One leg was, I think, five centimetres shorter than the other. Look, two centimetres shorter, it was significantly shorter according to bone doctors. And he started to put on significant weight. And I think he finished school at about it was well and truly close to 120 kilos. So unwell, then did law and continued some bad choices, life choices. He was reading a court case where a mother was writing an affidavit over burying her son. And he thought, I don't want my mother to go through what this mother has gone through in writing her affidavit of her son's death. So he grabbed some Dunlight volleys, he grabbed some dress shorts because he didn't have any runners, and he grabbed a Jackie House Inglet and off he went. He got two kilometres away, he was vomiting and he found a telephone box, and in those days you could do reverse charges, and he rang, and his mum came and picked him up. He didn't stop running from that day. And he worked out that running was his created his sense of belonging, created his sense of purpose. And I remember being with him and he he told me I'm gonna run around the world, I'm gonna be the fastest person to run around the world.
SPEAKER_01:And I said, And so you were in contact with him the whole time while all this was happening?
SPEAKER_06:Once once he actually it was a number of years after school, we re-engaged.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And he's told me I'm gonna run around the world and I'm gonna be the fastest person. I said, Well, that's good, Tim, but what's your why? Because if you don't have a why, your what will lose its its its tree trunk, it'll lose its its roots. Yeah. And we kept asking him, What's your why every time? I said, What's your why? What's your why? And he said, to inspire brighter futures. I said, What's that mean? What's that? Why is that a why? He said, by getting people up moving and exercising together, it creates belonging. It creates a better pathway for their health, their physical, their mental health. But it also supports his second favourite teacher's dream. I wasn't even he always tells me I'm a second favourite teacher. So it's a joke. I asked him who's his favourite teacher, and he said, Not you, not you. Yeah, yeah. And and so he did that. And he's a he's he's used to me. So he runs around the world. Runs around the world. When did he do this? He finished in June 32 years ago.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Not last year, the year before. And he was on track. He was running 60 something kilometres a day to break the record, and he came home because his dad was dying. And it broke his broke his rhythm. But he went back and his dad said to me before he died, he said, just go and finish that damn run. So off he went, and he had different road crews with him all the way. So Tim went from being quite a self-focused person to realizing that he couldn't do it on his own. He needed the community of people going alongside him. So it was a great learn for him. And I was lucky enough with a great mate, Rob Siganto, who happens to be Mr. Fitzgerald, you know, Patty Fitzgerald, Mr. Forex, his grandson.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:So Rob and I joined him at uh point in South Australia and we spent two weeks driving around with him.
SPEAKER_01:And was Tim doing fundraising for you guys at the time while all this was happening? Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:He's such an introvert that he's not the I know that people have run across Australia and and made a big hoo-ha about it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Tim was running around the world and he was a little bit more circumspect than that. And he finished it. And he still mentors and facilitates. We mentored and facilitated before he went. And we want him to take our why, the why, the what, the who workshops around the country, but certainly the state. So getting young people and teachers to understand what's their why, what's their purpose, what are their values, the what. What are the what have I got to do to achieve my why and who? Who's going to help me and who's not, which is the essence of our onwards and upwards program. But to do it in workshops. And that's what Tim's driven to see happen in his um in his next stage of life.
SPEAKER_01:That's fantastic, mate. It's such an impressive story. And you know, there's a that there's a lot of talk about you know the why at the moment. You know, Simon Seneca's made it quite poignant in talking about, you know, find your why and all that sort of stuff. But you know, he's really doing some amazing work on that, but a lot of that's centered around business and and achieving goals and all that sort of stuff. But to bring it into a young person's realm and just really have, you know, talking to so what is what's the youngest people, what's what's the youngest that you have come through the program?
SPEAKER_06:Generally grade seven. So what's that what age is that? 12 okay, yeah. Yeah. We've done it with some year sixes, but grade seven, they're starting to to work out where they fit in the world and and to get them to actually say, look, I'm worthwhile and I've got something to offer others.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:That is the greatest sense of engagement and creating a belonging. And then Tim also wanted to break down the tall poppy syndrome that we're so good at here in Australia. And when people have got a drive to help others through their gifts, that allows people to be grateful and appreciate. And what that does, it waters down that tall poppy of trying to pull people down. Do it with humility, love with humility.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Be kind with humility.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. 100%. And so the is there a cutoff age, like you were just saying, around 12.
SPEAKER_06:We've had we've had no, I think they might have been 80, 80-year-old grandmas. We have 80-year-old mentors.
SPEAKER_01:No, no, no. For the for the for the mentees.
SPEAKER_06:No, no. We've had 80-year-old for participants.
SPEAKER_01:Have you really?
SPEAKER_06:No way. Yeah, one lady, I can remember the first session. She was with Isn't that amazing?
SPEAKER_01:I'm 80, but I've still got stuff to learn. Well, she Who mentors an 80-year-old, by the way?
SPEAKER_06:Uh actually a chapter just tried to ring me for he's my he's our financial planner. And he's an introvert, great guy. And yeah, I remember the first session, and she thought he was one of the participants in the program. And she was basically telling him, I'm not talking to you. Just be quiet. You just sit there on your I'm not talking, I'm I'm not here to listen to you. And he was he was the mentor. And this lady, she was so bitter. She had two sons. One was a well-known drug dealer in the area who'd ripped her off 30 grand from when her husband died, the father died.
SPEAKER_02:Oh my god.
SPEAKER_06:And the other one was a professor at university and had two young kids. A lectorate university had two young kids. Her poison and her hate for her son, which is really a hard thing for a mother to do to her own, had consumed her relationship with everyone else. By the end of the programme, this lady who her daily plan was to work out which bus she was going to walk in front of. Oh my god. Had gone to, I'm going to be the best grandmother there is and I'm going to forgive my son and write him a letter of forgiveness.
SPEAKER_03:Wow. It was transforming. How powerful is that? And she didn't look for buses after that. Thank God for that. Wow.
SPEAKER_01:So you've got an umpteen dozen of these stories, you know. Has there been times over the years where it kind of hasn't gone according to plan, or it's you know, there's been things that have set you back to going, I don't know how I'm going to overcome this.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. You've you've probably touched on a few before, but we share a story, uh, I don't know if you know this, where there's a a young girl walking along the beach, daughter walking along the beach with her dad at Morton on the western side of the beach, and there's all these starfish washed up. And she's madly running and picking them up and throwing them into the ocean. And her dad laughed and he said, Uh, what are you doing? She said, I'm saving these starfish. He said, There's thousands of them. Have a look. You're not going to make any difference to these starfish. She picks up one, she throws it in, she says, I made a difference to that one. Yeah, yeah. And that is what we focus on. If we can help one person out of a group of ten, that's a win. Yeah, yeah. If we can get one domestic violence survivor to form a group of other ladies and walk with, or start on a financial planning to get themselves into a safer housing environment, or we can get one young girl to get her headphones off and actually start communicating and feeling secure at school, that's a win. If one young girl can cross out a name as ugly and write her beautiful name, that's a win. Yeah. If one young lad can talk and start to trust an adult mentor, that's a win.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And the f the flow on effect of these in society, and it's like one of those things that, you know, you'll never know, you'll never really know the true impact of how many lives that you've affected in a positive way because of that ripple effect, you know, these people that you've had like that family, you know, the guy that, you know, he's and then his brothers end up going in the Air Force and all that sort of stuff, you know, that that ripple effect of, you know, well, I've done this, I've turned my life around, I've, you know, made a go of it. There's no reason why you can't do. And a lot of a lot of transformational, not I wouldn't say all, but a lot of people that do find themselves having been on a big transformational journey, they they do have a lot of wisdom to to share with people, you know. And I think it I think it's great when they want to they do want to share that coming from a voice of lived experience, you know. Well, I've I've grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. I grew up in an i on a not in an ideal environment and all that sort of stuff. And if I can do this, this, this, this, and this and turn it around, if that instills like that hope that we were saying before about you know that things can get better, just the world needs more of that at the moment.
SPEAKER_06:There's a number of our participants that have become mentors and now paid facilitators. Isn't that amazing?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, fantastic. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, well, you're not gonna get a you're not gonna get a better testimonial for the for the program, the somewhere that goes, I'm gonna come back and now deliver it. Oh yeah, yeah, and be part of it. Yeah, yeah. How rewarding that must be when they when they do that.
SPEAKER_06:Oh, it's a circle of life.
SPEAKER_01:Isn't that incredible?
SPEAKER_06:Circle, yeah. We do get frustrated with with bureaucracy in government. Oh yeah. That that's a that that can be quite painful and and and again they're risk adverse. It's uh how am I gonna will this get me to lose my job?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I don't want to be the one to say yes.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, and and we of we sometimes find politics comes before good policy. Yeah. And so we we watch this and we watch the evolution of different governments and and different focuses. But again, we're in charge of what we do.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:We know what we're doing's the right thing, and we keep delivering it because we know the results are there.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:We don't have Naplan and ATAR that we report to. We have 13 areas that we see these young people and and pre-employment people go through and they change their lives.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And that's that's that's a lot more. The government's not a great financial supporter with the new government here in Queensland. They're not a great financial supporter of what we do. But we're lucky that we keep delivering our programs, and more and more people and and private supporters get on board and say, well, let's stop waiting for the government to do the do good policy, let's let's deliver it now.
SPEAKER_01:So you're getting support from the private sector. Yeah. Yeah, fantastic. That's wonderful, isn't it? Yeah. And it's, you know, and you look at so many people out there in society that are doing amazing work like yourself, and it's the private sector that really does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to making sure that these programs stick around.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, yeah. You we do community's work, and if there's ever a day that we don't do it well, then the community makes that call. If we rely on government to make that call, well, nothing would get done. I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no. Well, not much would get done. Yeah. So if you could if you had the the you know, the old magic wand and you know, fast forward ten years, what what does the foundation look like in ten years and what sort of impact would you be wanting to have?
SPEAKER_06:We would love every young person in the country to do this program as they're going through schools. We'd love the schools to be driving it and bringing in local mentors, and those mentors and local communities that create jobs and provide job networks, taking those young people when they finish school into work.
SPEAKER_01:So, like a so for one in for want of a better term, like a franchise that each school each school has their own mentorship program designed by you guys, and this is the support, this is the framework, all that sort of stuff, and this is how you then outreach into the local community in relation to employment and yeah, that's fantastic.
SPEAKER_06:So it's a journey right through. Yeah. And but having multiple organizations that have mentoring capability working together, so it can't just be one. It's it's many tools. I mean, you can't build a house with a screwdriver. You need multiple tools. So seeing these young people go from prep through to year 13, which is leading into work, because work creates dignity, it creates belonging, it creates a purpose.
SPEAKER_04:Self-esteem.
SPEAKER_06:Yes, most definitely. Yeah. We also would love to see where I was sitting down with my so 12 months ago, my nephew and his wife lost their son and he had he lived for twelve days.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my god.
SPEAKER_06:And at the eulogy It's so sad, at the eulogy, my nephew said that the twelve days that Vinny was alive, he crawl brought immense joy. And it made me think if we all had 12 days to live, what would we do with those twelve days? And wrote a little bit of a poem, and then Rachel was talking about once a year for a month, she gives up social media. And these are in their the late 30s, early 40s. And I thought, and we started brainstorming and developed a concept, offer up October. In October, if we give 12 days of non-work and school time, we offer up 12 days of not using our digital appliances, whether it's for social media, whether it's for for watching YouTube or whether it's sorry, watching uh programs on your your laptop, whether it's gambling, for 12 days, you only you you you can use it for school and work, but you don't use it for for non-time.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And you offer up those 12 days and the time you save, which is about 1.9 hours a week a day, you offer that time either for your own personal well-being, fitness, self-development, or you become a mentor, or you help the little old lady across the road who needs a lawnmown, or you read a book, and you spend that time and offer it up for others. We would love that to be something that is like clean up Australia Day. Bet in October.
SPEAKER_04:Twelve days.
SPEAKER_06:Twelve days.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, it's not very long, is it?
SPEAKER_06:It'll be a weekend. Yeah. Four weekends, yeah. And four afternoons through tonight.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Amazing what it'll do for the brain, amazing what it'll do for the family and the community and the connections.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_06:It's not teaching, and we want the funds raised to go towards putting more well-being programs in schools.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Research into the best use of digital appliances.
SPEAKER_01:That's a big one at the moment, isn't it? You know, because I've know a few teachers that we've got through through the family and friends, and and the the phones and uh technology is really it's a lot of it's a battle, you know. A lot of it's behavioral stuff, you know. That that's a real challenge, getting the phones out of their hands in schools. I can't believe that's a big thing. Yeah, well I can't believe that it's not a thing that, you know, when it's it's mandatory for the kids to hand in their phone when they get to school, like this thing about oh I need my phone to call my parents, what a load of crap that is. I mean, seriously, like I mean, the school's got your parents' phone number. If something happens, they'll call your parents, you know, like you know, like I'm maybe I'm too old school in my way of thinking, but I'm I'd tell you, you know, like I if it was up to me, I would not see phones in schools at all. You'd hand you want to take it on the way to school and on the way home for safety purposes, not a problem at all.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:But once you walk into that classroom, the s the phone gets locked away and you get it at three o'clock in the afternoon and that's it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You know, and I can't believe that's not well, maybe it is because I don't watch the news really. Well it's so I don't know if that's actually policy anywhere in Australia.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, it's becoming mandatory. Um uh certainly school policy, they're not allowed to have their phones. That was one thing we noticed with the programs when phones were in the classroom. They'd start off at the front and the desk and the kids would be touching them. By eight weeks, the phones had gone.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_06:It was a I don't know what the what the cause was.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:But the phones, because we never said connection, this.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. You know, that's they were they were they were discovering this, the art of conversation, and going, wow, this is pretty cool.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You know? Okay, so you know, for people that are listening that have got young people in their lives, right? So whether they're they're a coach or they're a teacher or, you know, with their own kids or people that they know that have got kids, if there's three things that p someone could do to kind of have a positive influence on the young people in their life in the next week, what do you reckon those three things would be?
SPEAKER_06:Let them know that they're loved.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And let them know that they're worth loving.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And get them to identify the why, the what, and the who's gonna help me and who's not.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, powerful. Yeah, who's gonna help me and who's not? You've got to identify those, that's for certain. So before uh before we wind this up, I'm interested to know how do you keep going?
SPEAKER_06:How do I keep going?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, how do you get because this is this is a a big thing that you've got going on here, and I'm sure there's days that are more challenging than others, and you're hearing a lot of stories about, you know, because it's it's one of those things that when you hear crimes uh against you know, bla children or the elderly or the disadvantaged, it's really it makes it even worse, you know. And hearing stories about youth uh being, you know, sexually abused or the victims of domestic violence or any of that sort of stuff, it's it's you know you you don't get into a position that you're in without having that empathetic gene and wanting to care for them and love them and do all that sort of stuff. How do you how do you protect yourself from you know not taking all of that on and again the starfish story?
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, starfish story, but there was a there's another story. When I was we had an office in Sydney when I was in private enterprise, and down in Sydney and North Sydney is Mary McKillop's Chapel. And I again I'm not a religious, overly religious, but I do believe in faith. Family, faith, and friends are my core.
SPEAKER_01:Faith is a big protective factor for your mental health, whatever that looks like for you.
SPEAKER_06:And it creates a pathway. And at Mary McKillop's Chapel in North Sydney, there's a saying, never walk past a need without doing something about it. And that resurrected me, and I was I was going through some really tough times in business. I'd been done over by some pretty poor behavior of other business people, and I lost one of my core values of trust. And uh I was I was at a really low ebb in my life, and and I read this saying that never walk past a need without doing something about it. And I remember when we were nursing my father at home when he was dying, and I was being an 18, 19, I was being sorry, a 21-year-old running off and doing all sorts of stuff, but not staying at home. And he called me in and he said, John, why are you running away from me when I need you the most? And those words keep coming back to me. When I see a need, I can't run away from it. And it's healthier and happier to help as opposed to walk away.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And that's how.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. And it like we say right at the start, you know, what you get out of giving is, you know, if you're feeling down or despondent or whatever, find a way to do something good for someone else and notice how that makes your state of mind change. You know, it's a beautiful thing. So people want to get involved and help out the foundation and the work that you guys are doing, the amazing work that you guys are doing, and your supporters and your mentors. How what what can what are the different ways that people can help support inspiring brighter futures?
SPEAKER_06:We have a program Mates, Mentors, and Momentum. So mates are people who say they can't work. They can't mentor because they're time can time poor. They're working in jobs, they're traveling a bit. But their organizations might be able to help as a corporate partner, or they might be able to make a donation. Yeah. Or they might be able to be an enzyme or a raven to pass it on to others and say, hey, have a look at inspiring brighter futures. When they're at a conversation, a party or at work, and someone says, I want to learn how to mentor, yeah, or I want to be a mentor. Because we teach people how to mentor, we teach corporates how to mentor others, and that's a really important part for a good culture in an organization. Yeah. Mentors is sign up and become a mentor yourself. And momentum is that constant looking for ways to make a change in your community and seeing how inspiring brighter futures can be part of that momentum change to making our world a better place.
SPEAKER_01:Mate, it's a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful thing what you guys are doing, John. I'm I'm so stoked that Jodie to start with, who he's a great man, made our introduction and and facilitated that happening, me coming and working for you guys. And yeah, I'm a big fan of everything that you do, mate. And it's a that's one cool thing about doing this podcast, I will as I will say, and and the work that I do with the Laughter Clinic is I meet so many people that are just out there, you know, doing amazing things. And it is it's a credit to you, you should be very proud. How's your family with uh because you've got your family all involved with this too now, aren't they?
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, they they they help out in all different ways. My wife mentors, I've got sisters that mentor, brothers that mentor, brothers-in-law that mentor, sisters-in-laws that try and help out. Sons have been through the programs, all their sons have to do the program at least twice, three times, and come back as mentors. Great. It's yeah, it's it's it's part of our living. But Mark, what you do is so important. And the smaller, the more people that get involved in, I'm sure what you do and what we do, the smaller we become. But that's even better because there's lots more people making a difference.
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah, and it and it fills your cup, you know, it really does. It fills your cup. And like I was saying to someone the other day about the fact that uh you do you have it's purpose, you know, it's having purpose, and you know, it gets talked about a lot in business. You've got to find your, you know, your purpose and what drives you and all this sort of stuff. But, you know, I know that I will do this for as long as I can possibly do it. You know, I've met fantastic people like yourself, mate. Likewise. So we like to finish, let's widen this up because I don't want to keep you all night. So uh we like to finish up the Love to Clinic podcast with what we call the feel good five. The feel good five. Okay, so answers as long as short as you like, right? We'll start off with uh what makes you happy, John? Family, faith, and friends. Beautiful, love it. Connectedness with other people, it's great. What are you grateful for today? All that I have. Excellent. Love it. You've you've rehearsed this, haven't you? Ha, sort of. Well, well, you beated that you beat the live presentation, so you know that I go out into the audience and do this. Because I actually can't remember if I actually asked you that night what yours maybe I did. Okay, so happiness, gratitude, what are you looking forward to?
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, giving more.
SPEAKER_01:Nice. Yep. And me time, when you're gonna switch off from the world and and just recalibrate, what do you do?
SPEAKER_06:Uh take the dogs for a walk.
SPEAKER_01:Excellent. Sort of dogs you got, mate?
SPEAKER_06:Mungrudels. Why m whatles, mongrels with poodle in them.
SPEAKER_01:I'm sure they're very happy to be described like that, by the way. They look like their father. Okay, good. Love the dogs, man. And our last word is uh which made you laugh recently.
SPEAKER_06:Again, I mentioned that funeral I I went to last week with 18-year-old Katie, and um she wasn't supposed to live till ten.
SPEAKER_02:Wow.
SPEAKER_06:And so she was non-verbal, needed a walker.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_06:And at the eulogy, her mother told a story which actually made us laugh, which was really important because it was it was quite an uplifting funeral because this kid, this young Katie, taught people how to love, even though she couldn't talk. The way she would hug, and hug so tightly and intensely, taught people how to love and love unconditionally, love without judgment. And the mum Michelle got up and told a story where they were driving one day just recently, and a bus cut her off. And Michelle's let out some expletives, and Katie, seeing her mother in distress, has tapped on the window, and the bus driver's looked down and she's done the L sign.
SPEAKER_01:The loser sign, yeah, yeah, on the forehead, yeah.
SPEAKER_06:So being non-verbal, yeah, being able to use some humour. Yeah, yeah. To show the uh it was either loser or learner. I'm not sure what she was doing. I'm sure it was uh you can make your mind up. Yeah, yeah. Uh I just thought that is just a perfect example of we don't need to be able to use a thousand words to say the importance of love.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. And that that in itself, the fact that when I asked you what's made you laugh recently, you went straight to what would normally be well what is a tragic event to attend a funeral. You know, any anyone that's been to a funeral nobody knows how bad funerals are to go to. But it really highlights the power of humour, you know, when you've got however many people there collectively mourning and in the depths of sorrow, and something is said to lift the mood and lighten the load. And I've I've been in a similar situation where you know, you'll be laughing at a funeral and thinking to yourself, you know, you feel guilty. Should I be laughing? You know, and and it's like no, this is this is good. You know, it's healing, it's part of the circle of life. So I th I think it's I'm happy for you that you were able to find that moment of joy in what would otherwise be a pretty dark day. You know? Yeah. Yeah, that's cool, man. Well, John, thank you so much for your time, mate. I really appreciate you coming in. And I'm gonna put links in the show notes to the Inspiring Brighter Futures Foundation website.
SPEAKER_06:Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:People want to get in touch, and all your contact details are on the website there. So uh that's the best way for people to find you or social media or any of that sort of stuff.
SPEAKER_06:Oh, yeah, so inspiringbrighterfutures.com, and there's obviously Facebook and Instagram that we have. And look, please, we we love we love more and more friends. Yeah. There's no strangers, only friends who haven't met yet in our community.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, beautiful. Love it. Thank you very much, mate. Thanks, Mark. Really appreciate your time coming in, and yeah, we'll do this again one day, I reckon. Sounds good.
SPEAKER_06:Sounds good.
SPEAKER_01:And as always, my friends listening at home as we sign off, we'll see you next week. And please be kind to yourself and be kind to those around you. Cheers.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for listening. The information contained in this podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes. It is not intended, nor should it ever replace advice received from a physician or mental health professional. Want more info? Visit the Laughterclinic.com.au. If you enjoyed the episode, please share and subscribe. Thanks again for listening to The Laughter Clinic Podcast with your host McCondo.