{"id":7278,"date":"2024-02-01T08:06:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T21:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onthecoastpublications.com.au\/onthecoastfamilies\/?p=7278"},"modified":"2024-02-01T23:04:03","modified_gmt":"2024-02-01T12:04:03","slug":"coffee-with-a-coastie-empowering-mental-health-movement-luke-grant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onthecoastpublications.com.au\/onthecoastfamilies\/coffee-with-a-coastie-empowering-mental-health-movement-luke-grant\/","title":{"rendered":"Coffee with a Coastie: Empowering Mental Health through Movement with Luke Grant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Listen to the full interview\u00a0here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s mental health. As he strives to help men over 30 regain control of their health, so they can live a life of purpose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel a big part of why we do what we do, is due to the events throughout our life\u2019s 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?<\/strong>
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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s science behind being shaped as a child subconsciously from zero to nine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On an Instagram post you write, It\u2019s 5:40am at Shelly Beach, you were checking the surf, and you\u2019re 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?<\/strong>
You know life\u2019s 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 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\u2019t know how he was going to do it, but he said he was planning to go do it right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s 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\u2019t try to talk them out of it, don\u2019t try to give advice and don\u2019t try and be the expert. Just be the listener.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You created Waluwin, a free 6\u2013week movement for mental health program for First Nations people. Can you share more about this?<\/strong>
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\u2019ll get a text message in the morning with a link that you press on. It\u2019s structured Monday to Sunday where you\u2019ll do movement one day and mindfulness another. The idea of it is to be a better human and I feel like it\u2019ll do that for you. Sometimes it\u2019ll just be a quick little check in or a prompt for you to reach out to family. We\u2019ve had feedback where family members haven\u2019t spoken in two years, and they\u2019ve now reconnected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve also created a men\u2019s fitness group targeted at men over 30. Can you share what this group is all about and the impact it is having?<\/strong>
I created Waluwin and the men\u2019s group all on the basis of some of the stuff that I\u2019ve gone through over the last few years. I\u2019ve lost two close cousins to suicide. And those two deaths are really the main reason I started the men\u2019s group. On the basis of trying to help men through the trauma that I have experienced with those two deaths, which really rocked me. The men\u2019s group started as a little sidekick and now it\u2019s going strong. It\u2019s turned into something a lot more than a sidekick. It\u2019s so rewarding watching the men change. When I get them at the early stages and they either haven\u2019t been in the gym for a very long time, or just starting out, and you get to see their aura change over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s so rewarding for me. It is my job, but I don\u2019t call it a job because, it\u2019s so rewarding to see them change. Then you see their wives at the school drop offs and they\u2019re saying hi to you even more so, because their husband\u2019s happier and more present. The training\u2019s great, but that stuff and the text messages of gratitude I get, is where it\u2019s at for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve personally reached out for support and feel so much better for it, though it took me many years and to be honest, the exposure to the amazing people I\u2019ve had the privilege of sitting down and chatting with, like yourself, that has made me feel it is ok to seek help without feeling wrong about it in some way. What more do you feel can be done to help normalize men seeking support?<\/strong>
That\u2019s a big question. We\u2019ve got more suicide deaths in men than we\u2019ve ever had, yet I feel we\u2019ve got the most amount ever of psychologists and psychiatrists, it\u2019s crazy. Creating the confidence to be able to ask for help yourself does come from within, but it\u2019s also about creating the space for it as well. I don\u2019t believe there\u2019s enough space out there for men to open up and to be able to help themselves in that way. I\u2019ve got my thing, where I use movement, breathing, ice baths and all that stuff to help men. But another huge thing that I can never ever do enough of, but it\u2019s just really hard to coordinate everybody, is to go away overnight. We did a night out in the stars and it was so powerful. I\u2019ve done it a couple of times now, it\u2019s part of our men\u2019s group program. Though like I said, it\u2019s hard to get everybody together as everyone\u2019s got commitments. But when we do there\u2019s some stuff out there that happens that potentially could save lives or if not make the person better for a very long time. Opening up in front of men in a non\u2013judgemental environment, out in the open, around a fire, nothing better really. Yet you don\u2019t need a group like mine to be able to do that. Have the confidence to go to your mates and say, let\u2019s go have a camping trip, let\u2019s go talk about our s%^t. That needs to be normalized, and for that to be normalized, there needs to be more things like my men\u2019s group and The Shaka Project. There needs to be heaps more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is there anything you wish more people understood about the connection between physical fitness and mental wellbeing?
<\/strong>I can only really talk from the physical side to the mental side. I\u2019m not a yogi or a guru in any other space. For me when I see people getting stronger in the gym, it leads into their life on the mental side of things. They\u2019re very much connected. I believe if you\u2019re physically well, you\u2019re mentally well. I\u2019ve seen it time and time again, from when I owned my gym, to training over 2,000 people, what I\u2019ve always noticed is if somebody is getting stronger in the gym whether it be on the bench press or running or wherever it be. If they can see results, they mentally get stronger and make better food choices and become more present for their family. They start having better conversations and opening up more. I see the confidence exuberate from them, all from becoming stronger and fitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So my advice is don\u2019t start Monday, start today. If you\u2019ve been putting something off, do it right now, there\u2019s no better time. All we have is right now. We can think about the past and the future, and plan and reflect, but right now, it\u2019s all you can control. It\u2019s the most important part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should you or someone you know need support, please call:
Beyond Blue \u2013 1300 22 4636
MensLine Australia \u2013 1300 78 99 78
13 YARN \u2013 13 92 76
You can also find support services online at www.ruok.org.au\/findhelp<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Listen to the full interview\u00a0here 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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sync_status":"","episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[130,35],"tags":[116],"series":[170],"class_list":["post-7278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coffee-with-a-coastie","category-health-wellbeing","tag-article","series-on-the-coast-families"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/onthecoastpublications.com.au\/onthecoastfamilies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/01\/luke-05.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/onthecoastpublications.com.au\/onthecoastfamilies\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/onthecoastpublications.com.au\/onthecoastfamilies\/feed\/podcast\/on-the-coast-families","embedCode":"

Coffee with a Coastie: Empowering Mental Health through Movement with Luke Grant<\/a><\/blockquote>