3 minute read
Time to talk
Team player
How Cameron Daddo found strength in vulnerability
WORDS SIOBHAN DUCK
Rather than telling guys to “man up”, Cameron Daddo believes we should be urging them to “open up”.
For more than a decade, the Smooth FM announcer has made improving men’s mental health his mission through My Mens Team.
Cameron started his charitable organisation, which brings men together to work through personal problems, while he was still living in Los Angeles with wife Alison Brahe and their three children.
The popular actor, who was at a crisis point in his life, reached out to other fathers at his children’s school.
In a group email, Cameron explained how low he was feeling to men he only knew through school working bees and invited them to join him for a talk one evening.
“I just felt very low in terms of my fathering ability and in my work life,” Cameron, now 56, says of that time. “The entertainment business in Los Angeles had just fallen in a complete hole. So,
I wasn’t earning enough money to keep us in our house. That was creating tension with my wife and my kids. I think it was also the impact of being the ‘breadwinner’ and all the expectations around men that come with that, like being told to ‘man up’.”
Believing that “a problem shared was a problem halved”, Cameron hit on the idea he might find solace in talking to other men who could also be suffering in silence.
And he was right. Though he didn’t get any RSVPs to his open invitation, 23 struggling dads turned up on the night to discuss what had been on their minds.
Seeing how much of a positive impact these meetings had on himself and the other men in his group, Cameron decided to pay it forward by encouraging others to start their own groups.
My Mens Team was born.
Though what is discussed in team meetings is kept confidential, Cameron explains groups tackle issues such as financial difficulties, relationship problems and employment troubles.
He emphasises team meetings aren’t only about wallowing in problems but finding ways to move forward.
Since returning home to Australia in 2017, Cameron has been eager to get his movement started here. But he acknowledges it hasn’t been plain sailing.
For starters, the COVID-19 pandemic prevented group gatherings for most of 2020. Secondly, Aussie blokes are notoriously reticent about showing vulnerability.
“In all honesty, it’s been a slow process because men can be closed off and not willing to be vulnerable,” he says.
“That’s still an overriding factor, more so with men of the Gen X, and certainly the Boomers.
“Millennials have been better at it than the older generations like mine. And that’s to our detriment because vulnerability is actually very powerful.
“It’s often looked at as a weakness, but it’s actually a great strength to have because being open and available has way more pluses than minuses in life.”
My Mens Team is a registered charity. Join or make a donation to help further men’s emotional fitness and wellbeing because, as Cameron says: “Happy men, make for happy families and communities.”
VISIT MYMENSTEAM.ORG
