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Aaron Williams MAASW BSW, CEO and co-founder of Mindstar, has partnered with Australia’s favourite brother, actor and cancer vanquisher Samuel Johnson OAM, to help make Australia the happiest, healthiest country in the world.
Their new presentation – ‘Life-Stuff’ – is designed to crush the stigma around mental health by contrasting Samuel’s deeply personal, anecdotal style with Aaron’s positive, practical strategies for feeling happier, healthier and stronger – both at home and at work.
Their message, put simply? It’s normal to feel crappy & struggle from time to time, it’s ok to talk about it and there’s plenty one can do to feel better.
The Problem
• Mental illness costs the Australian economy $33B a year
• Suicide is now the leading cause of death among young &
middle-aged Australians
• While more women attempt suicide, 75% of people who die
by suicide are male
• Mental illness highest in industries like financial services, IT & communications – up to 33% of people experience a mental health condition every 12 months
• Employee absenteeism & presenteeism due to stress & anxiety is skyrocketing
• There has been a HUGE surge in mental health insurance claims. Mental health has now become the largest claims payout for income protection insurance policies
• Australian businesses can expect a positive return on investment (ROI) of 2.3, or an average of $2.30 in benefits for those workplaces who invest in mental health initiatives (PwC, 2014)
The Solution
We live in a high-stress, fast-paced, uncertain and often challenging world. The constant, intense nature of modern life has many of us feeling overwhelmed and lost about how to change the way we live. The digital age has brought with it many extra challenges also. Many of us feel dissatisfied at work, unsettled at home and guilty about our own unhappiness. How can we feel so empty when our lives are so full?
Samuel Johnson, OAM, has enjoyed a storied career as a performer and fundraiser. He has reached the pinnacle of Showbiz, winning a Gold Logie for his portrayal of Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum, but is perhaps best known as ‘that guy who rode a unicycle around the country for his sister’. His efforts to raise $10M for cancer research in the face of his sister Connie’s diagnosis with breast cancer earned him the title of ‘Victorian Australian of the Year’ in the Queen’s Honour’s List of 2018. In 2019, he danced his way to success as the winner of “Dancing With the Stars”. His ascension to the upper echelons of the entertainment industry and the Not-For-Profit sector has garnered him enormous reach, broad public support and a string of significant accolades.
In this new presentation of ‘Life Shit’, Samuel unpacks the man behind the myth, to reveal a deeply troubled individual marked by a lifetime of death, drugs and dysfunction. In his compelling and often hilarious self-portraiture, Samuel reveals the extraordinary measures he’s undertaken in an effort to understand his condition. His story, within the ‘Life-Shit’ presentation, serves not merely ice-breaker, but as a fascinating case study that is relatable to all and a springboard for further discussion.
To make sense of Samuel’s personal history, and to help deal with the questions Samuel’s story raises more broadly, enter Aaron Williams, of Mindstar, who calls on a rich tapestry of clinical experience, research and philosophy to provide further insight into the nature of stress, resilience, uncertainty and the perils of the human condition. And to teach practical wellbeing strategies on how to live a happy, healthy, more successful life.
The secret is, that our brains are constantly telling us stories. The problem is, they are not always positive stories. Stress & anxiety don’t discriminate and as many of us know, someone can have it all and still somehow feel nothing. But, as Aaron illustrates, we have incredible power over our thoughts and emotions and can train our minds and our bodies to be healthier and more productive for ourselves and others. Aaron offers tangible tools and tips that demonstrate just how simple it can be to improve our wellbeing and resilience and markedly improve the way we attend to our deeply intrinsic psychological needs to be heard, to be autonomous, to feel a sense of belonging and to live with a stronger sense of purpose and meaning.
To close, Aaron and Samuel join together on-stage for a final installment. A free-for-all. No question too large. No no-go zones. No sweeping, no carpet. This is the point of ‘Life-Stuff’. To crush the stigma collectively and give every Australian the education, inspiration and tools in their tool belt to stress-less, manage uncertainty and live a happy, healthy, more successful life.
