inspirational Archives | Hello Sunday Morning

March 8th is International Women’s Day, a day to salute the trailblazers and everyday heroes who bring about change in our community.

We’re taking a moment to applaud and support every woman who has tackled personal or public challenges with alcohol. Committing to creating a healthy lifestyle for yourself, and your family is so worth celebrating. Wherever you are on your journey from being sober curious, reassessing alcohol in your life, or choosing to abstain, we’re constantly inspired by you and your commitment to make changes.

Hello Sunday Morning also sends our admiration out to women across Australia advocating for and contributing to the conversation around alcohol consumption.

We’d like you to meet these five women who inspire us through advocacy for healthier relationships with alcohol:

Dr Nicole Lee

Specialist alcohol and drug consultant, Adjunct Professor and Hello Sunday Morning Clinical Governance Board member

Nicole is the founder and CEO of 360Edge, a specialist alcohol and other-drug consultancy, and Adjunct Professor at the National Drug Research Institute Curtin University. She also chairs the Clinical Governance Board Committee of Hello Sunday Morning.

Nicole is a member of the Australian National Council on Alcohol and other Drugs, Australia’s key expert advisory council to the Australian Government on drugs, and the board of the Australian drug checking service, The Loop Australia. She’s internationally known for her impactful 30 years of expertise in research, design and implementation of alcohol and other drug policy and practice responses.

Not only that, Nicole’s also a consultant psychologist and Fellow of the Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy, contributing to research that informs decision making.

Jill Stark

Author, mental health advocate and public commentator on anxiety and quitting drinking

Jill Stark’s hard-won lessons from a life-long struggle with anxiety offer hope and connection to anyone doing it tough. Jill’s book ‘When You’re Not OK‘ and her blog documents her pathways from worrier to warrior, highlighting the realities and victories she experienced in giving up alcohol and encouraging others to do so. You can read Jill’s story here.

Shanna Whan

CEO and founder, Sober in the Country

Countless people in regional areas have been encouraged to take a look at their relationship with alcohol thanks to the efforts of Shanna Whan, Australian of the Year Local Hero for 2022. After struggling with alcohol addiction, Shanna founded grassroots charity, Sober in the Country to help others on a similar path.

Yumi Stynes

Podcast host, author, TV and radio presenter

Yumi Stynes is an Australian television and radio presenter, podcaster and author living in Sydney. She is the co-host of KIIS FM’s 3PM Pick-Up radio show and presenter of the ABC Radio podcast Ladies, We Need to Talk about female health and sexuality. Yumi regularly shares her story about her changing relationship with alcohol.

Dominique Robert-Hendren

Dominique Robert-Hendren is a leader in mental health strategy and innovation. With her background as the National Mental Health Programs and Services Director for Australia’s largest private health care organisation, Dominique was pivotal in leading innovative models of care, establishing digital telehealth services and award winning mental health programs.

In recent times she has been a respected member of the COVID-19 Response and Restart Team, overseeing Employee Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategic Framework for Frontline Workers and Executive Leaders.

In her role as a Mental Health Executive for Hello Sunday Morning, Dominique heads the digital health innovation strategy, research and new models of care. She is also Chief Clinical Psychologist and a psychology board-approved supervisor. Dominique’s expertise has been instrumental in producing vital evidence-based resources for the community at large like:

My sober toolbox

Mental Health Month
Calendar of Care

Coping with Pandemic Fatigue

Australian women, everywhere, inspiring change

Women like Lucy Bloom (Author and motivational speaker), Andy Quin (co-founder of ETCH Sparkling), and Kerrie Atherton have given other’s courage to make changes as well.

Every week on our social media we share a Hero of the Week.

Many are women who have made the decision to change their relationship with alcohol, and graciously share their struggles and wins along the way. Through Hero of the Week stories, others can discover what they stand to gain through reassessing, reducing, or quitting drinking.

Check out more stories here and don’t forget to share a message of support to a woman you admire this week too!

Let’s hear it for the girls and the collective social, economic, cultural, health and political achievements that women have made possible across the world.

This week’s guest blog is from Mark Avery, who works for Vodafone, allied to HSM’s longest continual supporter, the Vodafone Foundation. Mark has a massively ambitious plan to raise awareness for various causes, including HSM next year, and we’re grateful, but also a little nervous …

In June 2020 I’m going to be running 968 km from Brisbane to Sydney.

Not all in one go though – that would be crazy! Instead, I’m going to run a marathon a day for 23 days, finishing off at the Opera House on June 18th which happens to be my 40th birthday.

My heart is beating a little bit faster and my hands are a little bit sweaty just writing that.

Why am I doing this?

It’s not just to get out of work for a month, or to get away from the wife and kids.

Back in October 2014, and quite out of the blue, a close friend was diagnosed with cancer.

Frank sadly passed away in February 2015.

And it really felt as quick as it took you to read that sentence. One minute we were all laughing and messing about, passing our kids over the back fence to each other’s houses, and in a short space of time … we were all a bit lost.

Not only had I lost a friend, but I was trying to be strong – what I thought was strong, anyway.

I didn’t really know what to do. I didn’t know what to say, and like most blokes, I kept it in, tried to be ‘strong’. Although on the inside I was really struggling.

And of course when it rains it pours. At the same time I got promoted. Sounds great right?

Nope.

I couldn’t concentrate. I couldn’t sleep. I felt anxious. Did I mention I couldn’t concentrate?

And I felt depressed. I was having panic attacks at work – something that I’d never experienced before. I had to keep pretending I had a phone call, to excuse myself from meetings to go outside to be able to breathe.

And I was drinking. I was drinking a lot to try to cope and numb the pain. Which of course, made it all worse.

“What you seek is seeking you” ~ Rumi

So I remember thinking about what happened to Frank and thinking I needed to do something.

I went to the doctor and when they asked how I was, I broke down in tears. And strangely enough, I felt better after that. Just letting it out and talking about it seemed to release the tension that had built up.

And then came one of those crazy synchronistic moments (if you believe in that stuff) that really changed the direction of my life.

For the tenth year in a row I was thinking about entering a marathon. I always really ‘thought’ about it. I had really good intentions of doing it, but I always made my excuses (being too busy is my favourite) and let myself off the hook. But this time was different.

Lily came home from school with a picture she’d drawn for me.

‘Daddy I’ve drawn a picture for you that I know you will love.’

It was a picture of Mickey Mouse with the famous Walt Disney quote …

‘If you can dream it, you can do it.’

I signed up 5 minutes later, with a big lump in my throat.

What’s your legacy?

I always thought I was invincible as a kid. I thought I would live forever and that I had plenty of time to do everything I wanted.

Frank’s death really hit me like a sledgehammer.

This was the first point in my life that I thought … really thought … about my life. It made me really think about what I wanted to leave behind. What I wanted to achieve. What I wanted to give. How I wanted to be remembered.

I wanted to leave a legacy I would be really proud of.

And so it was in this more optimistic state that I committed to start running in the morning, before work. I couldn’t sleep anyway so thought it would be a good use of my time.

And from here I started to cut down my alcohol.

Training for a marathon, and completing it, led to a 50 km. Which then led to a 100 km. Then a couple more 100 km. And next year to a 100 miler. Always with this big goal in the back of my mind …

So, back to my original question … why am I doing this?

I’m doing this for a number of reasons.

I’m doing this in memory of a great friend.

I’m doing this to acknowledge the great work of many charities out there, including mental health charity ‘Hello Sunday Morning’ whose vision is to change the world’s relationship with alcohol and the impact it has on mental health.

I’m doing this to share my story, to really highlight that you don’t really know what people are thinking and going through behind the mask they wear out in public, or what they put on facebook. It’s ok to take that mask off and to talk.

And of course I’m doing this for Vicki and the kids. I want Lily and Alfie to grow up thinking anything’s possible.

I’m doing this to leave a legacy.