The suicide rate for both men and women approaching retirement age (55-64 yrs) has risen by over 50% in the last 10 years. Why this group? Baby boomers – of all groups. The great promise of reward for effort is deserting some of us. The need to adapt is an evolutionary imperative, but some are reaching […]
“I followed the river, I got to the sea” * When mental ill-health takes over, one of the casualties is one’s personal sense of cause and effect. Usually, when we’re sad, and we try to pull ourselves out of it, we can. When ill, our usual tactics fail us. These are signs of our losing […]
He’s a miner in the Hunter Valley, who wishes he had crossed paths with Beyond Blue sooner. A year ago he had attempted suicide, and having spent one hour on the subject in a Beyond Blue session, he can now see what was going wrong for him. “I wish I’d heard this a year ago, it […]
How will you finish your working life? Will you still be building and creating, or floating to old age like a twig on the ebb tide? Those last 10 years of work are not the slow down they once were. The old narrative was that these were the glory years – working, building up wealth, […]
A marriage separation has broken his heart. “She’s up the road with another fella, I’ve got the kids”. His mates must know – but how much do they know? He still turns up for work, keeps to himself, does his job. ‘Yeah – he’s fine.’ Except…. “When I go home from work, I wait for […]
This is for HR, its about your 50 year old men, at work, but without their job, keeping a seat warm until something comes up. Some will get work, but there is a subset of this audience, who’s needs are not being met. They are 30 year employees, have never worked anywhere else, unskilled in […]
…says a mother to her son. He was 40 years old and had no idea what she was talking about, but he knew he didn’t like it. My friend shared this with me in a Seoul restaurant. As we had facilitated /translated emotional intelligence together over some years, he had clearly started to apply some […]
The purpose of these early blogs around languishing and starting something is to create a personal recognition. These are light on content, not to educate, but hopefully to needle a little, helpfully. To give courage to those, conducting their own private negotiations on how well they are going. To recognise that if they are having […]
A pattern has emerged, where he stays up to 2am, drinks 6-7 beers, and roams the dating chat-line while his wife and kids sleep in the next rooms. Harmless right? (he tells himself). He has no intention to actually meet anyone. Until… there is a request to meet on skype, and to then undress… “oh […]
A goal. An ambition. A dream? “This might work. This might not work. But something will happen. And whatever happens, you can figure out what to do with that…” (Seth Godin, 2014) What you start hoping for, might not be what you finish getting. It won’t be a straight road. You wouldn’t trust it, if […]