INTERVIEW WITH LUKE CARPENTER
coffee
Coastie WITH A
LUKE GRANT
PERSONAL COACH AND PROUD WIRADJURI MAN Welcome to Coffee with a Coastie. I had the pleasure of sitting down and chatting with Luke Grant, personal coach and proud Wiradjuri man, about mental health, exercise, and his own journey. We talk about the positive impact he sees physical health playing in the role of someone’s mental health. As he strives to help men over 30 regain control of their health, so they can live a life of purpose. I feel a big part of why we do what we do, is due to the events throughout our life’s journey. Can you share some of your story from growing up in Kyogle, to losing your father at 9 and how this has shaped you to become the person you are today? Kyogle was a little town I grew up in, that was only two or three thousand people and that included the outskirts. My father was a professional footballer and back then they didn’t go overseas when they retired. So, when my dad finished up in 86 or 87 we moved to Kyogle. I was born in 85, so I was only one or two when we moved. He took on the role of captain coach for the local team. But he was more than that, he was a solid community man, bringing the community together. Always picking people up for training and being involved with all the local raffles and stuff. So losing my father at nine was huge. I know other people are in harder situations than me, but my dad was a very important part of my life. I remember always being with him and emulating him. I always wanted to hang out with him. With Dad being a professional rugby league player, all I ever wanted to do was play rugby league because of him. Watching him do what he did for the community shaped and programmed me to be like that. I am who I am today because of him. I think there’s science behind being shaped as a child subconsciously from zero to nine.
4
ON T H E C OA S T – FA M ILIES
On an Instagram post you write, It’s 5:40am at Shelly Beach, you were checking the surf, and you’re approached by a First Nations man, who you engage in a conversation with. You showed him empathy towards his struggles and asked him if he had a plan to kill himself and he says he does. You then go on to say, how approaching these situations was taught to you in mental health training. Can you share how to approach someone you feel is not ok? You know life’s sometimes all about timing. This guy obviously for some reason was meant to be introduced to me that morning. When he approached me, I felt like there was something not right. I had already done a fair bit of suicide prevention work with Yerin and when I
Creating the confidence to be able to ask for help yourself does come from within, but it’s also about creating the space for it as well think back it just come out so naturally, I said something like; hey man, are you planning on hurting yourself or going to kill yourself, and he admitted he was. I don’t know how he was going to do it, but
he said he was planning to go do it right now. It’s very confronting and very hard to do, but probably the most powerful thing you can do. Just always show empathy and you have to stay with them until they get help, like an ambulance or a family member or something. You can’t try to talk them out of it, don’t try to give advice and don’t try and be the expert. Just be the listener. You created Waluwin, a free 6–week movement for mental health program for First Nations people. Can you share more about this? After running a 12 week online program called Yerin Fit when I was working with Yerin, I wanted to create something online that included the movement side of things, along with other things like connection to country, connection to family and mindfulness practices. Having an aspect on overall health and wellbeing all in one place that people can do online. And at the time I was training James, another indigenous man who knows all that space and runs an IT recruiting company up in Newcastle. We just brainstormed a few different ideas and created it. It took a while but the program itself goes for six weeks and every day you’ll get a text message in the morning with a link that you press on. It’s structured Monday to Sunday where you’ll do movement one day and mindfulness another. The idea of it is
