OCTOBER is Mental Health Awareness Month and Barrington’s Adrian Rovere is on a mission to lift the burden of mental health for young men.
Known locally as “the Sheriff”, Adrian is taking on the “Lift the Load Challenge”, an annual fundraising campaign run by the Top Blokes Foundation – a youth mental health charity founded in Wollongong in 2006 by Melissa Abu Gazaleh.
The Foundation addresses young men and boys’ mental health outcomes, through the provision of social education programs aimed at improving behaviour, wellbeing and their relationships with school and community.
“Our vision: Mentoring boys and young males to redefine their notion of a ‘Top Bloke’ as resilient, empathetic and authentic,” the organisation states.
The Lift the Load Challenge requires participants to carry 10kg for 50km throughout the month in support of men’s mental health.
Adrian however is aiming to lug 30kg over 100km; triple the weight and double the distance required for the challenge.
This is his second event raising money for men’s mental health.
“Five years ago, a younger, fitter me, accepted the 21-day Push Up Challenge,” Adrian said.
“I amassed 16,000 push-ups with a one-day personal best of 1200.”
Noting that everyone has been “impacted by the demons of mental health”, Adrian’s reasons for joining the challenge are personal.
His older brother, Mark, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his mid-twenties, died by suicide more than three decades ago.
“Despite living with this challenging condition he graduated as a high school maths teacher, married and had a son.
“But Mark’s was a tortured life.”
Adrian said the phone call that informed him of his brother’s death was “like a gut punch from Mike Tyson”.
Raising money for the Top Blokes initiative, Adrian hopes to “fund programs aimed at defeating this insidious affliction (suicide)”.
If you wish to donate, go to the Top Blokes Foundation’s website and search for Adrian Rovere’s page.
By Marilyn SANDERSON
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