Raising our boys

How to help your sons and grandsons navigate adolescence

- Gabriella Del Grande

There are countless emotions, issues and experiences boys can encounter on their journey from childhood through to adolescence and then on to adulthood – and they differ from person to person.

But there’s one common stigma that the majority of our boys will deal with, and that’s vulnerability.

“I have certainly found that young blokes are trying to live up to a stereotype that isn’t manageable. There is a stigmatism of handling things yourself and not being a sook – man up, shut up,” says Gus Worland, founder of not-for-profit, Gotcha4Life (gotcha4life.org), who fund sustainable educational workshops and training programs surrounding mental health.

Hunter Johnson, CEO of men’s personal care brand Stuff and preventative mental health charity The Man Cave (themancave.life), agrees.