He is loud, brash and bold with a broad Aussie accent and he is here to help. Meet Davo, the “larrikin tradie”. He is beyondblue’s latest creation and his job is to tell men in “blue collar” work to “pull their thumb out” and seek help for mental health issues like stress, anger or sadness.The new mental health campaign, which costs about $1 million and took a year to research, will hit radio, television and digital screens on Monday. The two 30-second and 15-second ads are set to run for the next six months.  But while the commercials might be delivered with a grin, wink and plenty of emoticons, the message is deadly serious.

Beyondblue chairman Jeff Kennett said Davo used humour to address a group of Australians in high-risk occupations, including the vulnerable FIFO – fly in and fly out – workers in the mining industry. “They are men on cranes, they are men on construction sites …and their image is that they are tough,” Mr Kennett said. “But, of course, the reality is they are human beings “A lot of them are confronting enormous stress and anxiety. But if they indicate they have got issues, they are perceived as being weak or lesser.” The campaign, he said, was intended to counter such stereotypes. “Boys should cry if they wish to, or if they have a reason to,” Mr Kennett said.  “We want men who are in need to be able to be comfortable to reach out, to seek out, to talk to their mates. That’s being tough. It’s not being by consuming, withholding your inner-most feelings to the point that you become ill.”

The latest push follows the launch two years ago of beyondblue’s successful Man Therapy, which used another fictional character, Dr Brian Ironwood, to promote good mental health to men. A recent beyondblue survey revealed that nearly a third of men who are “blue-collar” workers wouldn’t know what to do if they were struggling with depression or anxiety.  More than a quarter believed that men with these conditions were seen as soft and many thought seeking help was a sign of weakness. But beyondblue ambassador Tony McManus well knows the price of not talking about mental heath problems. The 52-year-old’s younger brother committed suicide 10 years ago.  “He took his life in 2005 and at the same time I was also dealing with issues with mental health,” Mr McManus said. “Part of the problem was not sitting down and talking about the issues. We were two brothers, dealing with the same issues but we weren’t sharing. I was reluctant to talk about it because I didn’t want to appear to be not in control…he probably had some similar concerns.” Mr McManus said he wanted men who were experiencing difficulties to “open up and talk about it. Blokes cover up what’s going on,” he said. “It is only when they get home that they deal with the issues through self medication, alcohol or drug abuse, which is not the solution.”

For information visit www.mantherapy.org.au/davo or call Lifeline on 131 114 or SuicideLine on 1300 651 251

This article and image appeared The Age, 22 June 2015.