Therapist turns personal struggles into mental health life-line

Simon Rinne has established Mindful Men to support men to look after themselves and improve their wellbeing.

by Janine Hill

Simon Rinne knows that living with mental illness is not easy. He has done it for 30 years.

Drawing on his own background and tertiary study in social work, Simon of Bli Bli, has made it his mission to help others as a lived experience therapist.

“I didn’t want other men to go through 20 years of it like I did before I got help,” he said.

Simon began suffering obsessive compulsive disorder at eight and this was compounded by depression and anxiety but did not seek help until he was 28.

“I grew up in the ‘80s and ‘90s and noughties, and we didn’t talk about mental health,” he said.

“We are conditioned to bottle it up and not talk about our feelings and figure it out ourselves but what does that look like exactly? Seven out of nine suicides in this country are men.”

Simon’s wife was the catalyst towards him seeking help.

“She was saying, ‘You’re not the person I met,’ and finally, I was ready to go and get help. I went and saw my GP and said, ‘I think I’ve got some sort of mental illness,’ and that started my journey.”

Getting help precipitated a career re-set for Simon, who had a varied career in the public service but decided to study social work.

He has now established Mindful Men to support men to look after themselves and improve their wellbeing.

Instead of working from a clinic, he offers therapy sessions during beach walks, at basketball courts or while out on a drive – wherever men feel comfortable talking.

He works with men from north Brisbane to Gympie, uses telehealth technology to work with men further afield, and also makes podcasts to spread the word about better mental health for men.

“It’s a therapy business but it’s about building a community of mindful men who can break out of that cycle and start living life and get the help they need to do all of the above,” he said.

• Contact Mindful Men at hello@mindful-men.com.au.