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Two MANtalk events in Sydney and Melbourne have raised $7,500 for charity Beyond Blue, while helping to bolster mental health discussion and support across the mortgage industry.
MANtalk held the two events simultaneously on Oct. 15.
Finance broker Chris Foster-Ramsay (pictured below), one of MANtalk’s founding organisers, said the events attracted about 200 people, including brokers, bankers, lenders, BDMs and management executives.
“They were very much places of safety and discussion, including about how peer groups can help each other, particularly knowing the pressures of the industry at the moment,” he said.
The two events featured a panel of industry stakeholders in both cities, who shared stories about or reflected on mental health challenges and discussed tips for managing them.
In Melbourne, the panel (see photo at the top) l consisted of Brad Clucas, head of broker at Connective, MoneyQuest franchisee Tony Elkins, Etienne Rizzo, co-founder of Deposit Assure, Premier Financial Advocates founder Sadish Visvalingam, and industry veteran Ray Hair, founder of Connect2Broker.
Paramount Mortgages CEO Sean White and Nectar Mortgages regional manager Andrew Stevens joined the panel in Sydney (see photo below), alongside MTA Mortgage Brokers founder Kerry Kalendra, Finsure senior BDM Phillip Donaldson, and Finance Better founder Louis Velasquez.
Attendees also heard from experts in mental health. In Melbourne, psychotherapists Michelle Smith and Bronwyn Penhaligon presented on issues including stress management and work-life balance, while shift work expert Roger Sutherland provided nutrition and sleep-related advice.
The panels were facilitated by business coach and keynote speaker Therese O’Neill in Melbourne and Paul Herbert, head of lending and everyday banking distribution at AMP Bank in Sydney.
Foster-Ramsay said MANtalk was created due to a belief there was a need for mental health support in the industry outside of what aggregators, lenders and peak bodies provided.
“We saw this really as a way to bring people together to just openly and honestly discuss and hear from people in the industry that were having similar challenges,” Foster-Ramsay said.
One theme that emerged from this year’s panellists, he said, was that many of them had carried mental health challenges throughout their lives and had needed to learn to manage them.
Many attendee questions focused on the signs they should look for to identify someone who may be in trouble, and how they could best go about supporting them if required.
Foster-Ramsay said another theme was that the MANTalk wellness group was not just for men, but anyone who had concerns about mental health or wanted to support men’s mental health in the industry.
To get help today, call a Beyond Blue counsellor on 1300 224 636 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.
