Brothers4Brothers: a mental health group for men

By ERIN WALKER

A mental health group for men looking for a “safe and comfortable space where men can talk and show vulnerability without judgmental expectation,” can be found at Willie Bishop’s Brothers4Brothers.

Bishop’s motivation to start this group came after his own journey back from rock bottom. Bishop separated from his wife for 2 years, after becoming “selfish, stubborn, controlling, manipulative and egotistic.”

Bishop attributes the eventual rekindling of his relationship with his wife and two sons to his journey of growth and healing.

His Own Journey

Having experienced and struggled with his own mental health during that time, “being fortunate enough to have come through that. I wanted to be able to share what I had learned with other men,” he said.

The group does fortnightly walk and talks where they grab a coffee, go for a swim, or even just hang out for an hour dedicated entirely to “speaking into some of the struggles that we have on a community base.”

Bishop also does one on one mentoring that provides an “opportunity to sort of build rapport with people that may be not comfortable speaking in a large group.”

There are also weekly Zoom chats that are available interstate and internationally, with a huge following of men in Bishop’s home country of New Zealand.

Bishop says that the goal of these activities is to allow these men to “tap into a lot of accountability, and exercise vulnerability,” to progress on their own healing journeys.

Change Is The Achievement

The ultimate achievement for Bishop is the positive progression of men he sees in his group, “changing behaviour, no longer using drugs or alcohol to mask their troubles, to see them happy with their wives and their kids again, that’s the ultimate one for me is just seeing change behaviour and seeing families back together again.”

For the past five years, Bishop has been working as the Head Trainer of the Brookvale F45. Through his work there he aims to implement what he has learned about how important mental wellbeing is, as well as physical wellbeing.

Encouraging small activities every day for the members of the gym, “whether we have a 10 – 15 minutes of guided meditation or all these small little extra things that I’m trying to incorporate into our community.”