The Rotary Men's Wellness Campaign evolved from a Mentally Fit EP committee meeting when it was raised that perhaps Mentally Fit EP could do better supporting the males of EP. 
Jo Clark, West Coast Youth and Community Support CEO, on one of her 3am grant writing nights, was sitting in the quiet thinking there must be something else we can do to get national attention! She thought about how important, professional, and effective, Mentally Fit EP is and why there are times when only considering national or state-based tenders and subsequent service delivery models are not always right or effective for our regional communities. 
That is when the idea was born. 

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Jo thought about a conversation with the committee about how more needs to be done for men who are slipping through the cracks. She decided lets get a group of men from 18-100 from across the EP to undertake workshops with other men about the fact and realities of mental ill health and wellness, encourage them to speak openly and promote the help seeking idea, its ok to talk, and then enlist one of the up and coming Australian photographers of this time that is born and still located here on the EP, Robert Lang.

The project has been well and truly born, with the aim of it being to highlight men's mental health, educate and inform men about resources available, and to work at removing the stigma around talking about mental health issues especially prevalent among adult males. The campaign could not have been created without the tremendous support from Port Lincoln Rotary Club, who have funded it for naming rights. 

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This concept, and subsequent stigma reduction, promotes men across the Eyre Peninsula by them becoming photographic models for the wellness campaign, and being displayed in a powerful travelling exhibition. Farms, cars, fence lines, beaches, boats, vegie patches, and workshops have been chosen as places of wellness across the EP region by this group of men. The collection displays words of wellness from the models that were captured, creating an impact for the viewer, and instigating discussion in the exhibition space.

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The exhibition venues are located in Wudinna, Cummins, Kimba, Cowell, Lock, Streaky Bay, Cleve, Tumby Bay, Elliston and Port Lincoln.  The first exhibition opening was 23rd March, 2018 at Wudinna, the last being the 6th October, 2018 in Port Lincoln.  

Each opening exhibition night includes a guest speaker on men's wellness at each and every location. Another important addition is the Mens Wellness Brochure, titled Mentally Fit Bloke, which was created by the current Community Development Officer, Lain Montgomerie. The brochure is directed at men living on the Eyre Peninsula, and contains important numbers for times of crisis, Government agencies and locations, community counselling services, and tips for mental fitness and will continue to be shared across the EP. 

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After the lengthy cross Peninsula travelling tour and anticipated loads of conversation, connections and support offered and provided, Mentally Fit EPs quality world vision is that the Rotary Mens Wellness Campaign will have impacted the EP region positively, and that it will receive a lot of media attention that will provide an opportunity to showcase the journey of Mentally Fit EP, and importantly, highlight the needs of the Eyre Peninsula region.

 

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