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Event detailsDate: Tuesday 10th November
Time: 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM (arrival from 11:30am with a 12pm sharp start)
Venue: Rydges Newcastle
Dress Code: Business Attire
What to expect
Join us for a powerful and thought-provoking discussion on men’s mental health and the importance of breaking the silence surrounding one of the most significant health challenges facing our communities today.
Facilitated by Dr Jaelea Skehan OAM, Director of Everymind, the panel features Sophie Eltringham (Movember), Elliot Waters (Everymind Lived Experience Advisory Group) and Dan Repacholi MP (Special Envoy for Men’s Health).
Together, we will discuss the importance of breaking the silence, encouraging help-seeking, and creating environments where men feel supported to prioritise their mental health.
This engaging conversation will examine how businesses, community organisations and individuals can help foster environments where men feel supported to speak openly, seek help when needed, and thrive.
Men’s mental health affects everyone and so we encourage both men and women to attend, listen and be part of the conversation, as understanding and support from partners, colleagues, friends and family can play a vital role in driving positive change.
Meet the panel
Dan Repacholi MP, Federal Member for Hunter & Special Envoy for Men’s Health
Dan Repacholi is the Federal Member for Hunter and Australia’s first-ever Special Envoy for Men’s Health, a role created to put a stronger national focus on improving the health and wellbeing of Australian men and boys.
Before entering politics, Dan represented Australia at five Olympic Games in pistol shooting and built a career as a fitter and turner, working alongside miners, power station workers, and tradies in the Hunter. Since being elected in 2022, Dan has been a strong advocate for jobs, local industry, and health services.
As Special Envoy, he works with communities, health organisations and government to break down stigma, improve access to services, and start new
conversations about men’s health.
Known for his down to earth style and deep roots in the Hunter community, Dan brings both lived experience and passion to his work in Parliament and to his role championing men’s health nationally.
Sophie Eltringham, Director, Global Implementation in Health Systems at Movember
Sophie Eltringham is Director, Global Implementation in Health Systems at Movember, where she is leading integration across Movember’s health systems work in Australia, UK, US, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand. Her focus at Movember is on how to support health systems to recognise and respond to men, including how to embed Men in Mind, an evidence-informed practitioner training program, into professional development pathways for clinicians.
Sophie began her career in suicide prevention with the Australian Government at the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, where she commissioned and managed the national study into suicide among current and ex-serving ADF personnel. She also developed new policy proposals for place-based suicide prevention trials with Beyond Blue, and was a lead investigator on the National Mental Health Commission’s review of suicide prevention services for veterans.
Since then, Sophie has spent the past 7+ years in the UK with the UK Government as a Senior Civil Servant at the Department of Health and Social Care. She led on taking Brexit legislation through the UK Parliament, and during COVID-19 managed the relationship with the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland governments. She has also advised global health organisations and businesses in the health sector on government engagement strategy as a director at a public affairs agency in London.
Elliot Waters, Everymind Lived Experience Advisory group member
Elliot Waters is a mental health advocate, researcher, presenter, podcast host and professional truck driver who has transformed his own lived-living experience of mental ill-health into a platform for consumer-led change.
A Psychology (Honours) graduate from the University of Newcastle, Elliot works in men’s mental health research alongside A/Prof Myles Young, combining his academic background with a deeply personal understanding of the mental health system. His advocacy is grounded in the belief that lived experience is a form of expertise in its own right, and that the people most affected by mental health challenges should have a meaningful voice in the research designed to support them.
Elliot is a member of Everymind’s Lived Experience Advisory Group and has contributed his lived-experience expertise across multiple Everymind projects, providing guidance and perspective to help ensure mental health and suicide prevention work reflects the realities of those with lived and living experience.
His broader advocacy includes work with the Black Dog Institute as a lived-experience presenter, alongside The Dysregulated Podcast, which has grown to more than 250 episodes, 60,000 downloads and reached listeners in over 70 countries through candid conversations about complex mental health, recovery and the realities that sit behind clinical labels.
More recently, Elliot has begun bringing his mental health advocacy into another important part of his life: Australia’s road transport industry. Drawing on his experience as an interstate truck driver, he is developing Resilient Roadways, a grassroots, worker-led initiative focused on understanding and improving the mental health and wellbeing of truck drivers and transport workers.
Across research, advocacy, podcasting and life on the road, Elliot’s work is driven by a desire to make mental health conversations more authentic, inclusive and connected to the lives people actually lead.
A fiercely proud Novocastrian, he is also a passionate Newcastle Knights supporter, proudly holding the Pride of the Hunter banner at home and away games.
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Event venue
Rydges Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia
Tickets
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