Alan takes his mental health message to Canberra

BALLARAT men’s mental health campaigner Alan Thorpe is preparing to walk from Melbourne to Canberra as his next awareness and fundraising mission.

Mr Thorpe will begin his journey on 20 October and plans to arrive at Parliament House on 19 November, which is International Men’s Day.

His arrival will coincide with the fifth annual visual presentation of shoes on the Parliament lawn, representing the number of male lives lost to suicide, and called 2500 Too Many.

“The purpose behind it is to try and get someone from Parliament to make some serious changes, because what they’re doing with mental health at the moment is not working – it’s only a Band-Aid,” Mr Thorpe said.

He said there is also a push for the MP responsible for mental health (in this case the assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Emma McBride) to be male.

“And the funding has always been split 50-50 yet seven out of nine suicides are men,” Mr Thorpe said.

Mr Thorpe is known for his walks in support of men and their mental health, and had completed four in the space of two years when he witnessed the death of an 18-year-old spectator at a burnout event in Stawell in late 2023.

He said he and his partner narrowly avoided being hit by the car that killed the young man and, combined with his existing mental health challenges, the incident shook him and forced him away from public activity.

“That hit me hard. I locked myself away at home for a while, struggling with nightmares and all the rest of it,” Mr Thorpe said. “I only got back out and back into it about six months ago.”

Mr Thorpe has raised more than $80,000 for Beyond Blue in his various treks, but this year has chosen 9D Breathwork as his beneficiary.

9D Breathwork is a form of counselling that combines rhythmic breathing techniques with a multi-dimensional soundscape, guided vocal coaching, and other elements in an aim to facilitate deep emotional release, rewire limiting beliefs, and promote healing and personal growth.

Mr Thorpe said he had experienced it with a practitioner in Melton. He is working on starting his own charity next year.

Having experienced suicide in his own family, Mr Thorpe wants men to be confident enough to speak up about their problems. “Don’t sit at home and suffer in silence,” he said.

Mr Thorpe can be supported with donations through links on his various social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, which are called Iwalkformensmentalhealth.