PROP, People Reaching Out to People

15/09/2025

Eight minutes of empathy and pressence. That’s all it takes.

When you're struggling, here's a way you can reach out. It's what I do with those closest to me. It can take as little as 8 minutes to feel not alone. 📲Vide...

02/09/2025

September is National Su***de Prevention Awareness Month!

01/09/2025

We’ve added our third Quiet Man piece. This series is a space for men to pause and recognise the feelings we don’t always say out loud. This one turns to life after work; when the phone quiets, mornings stretch, and we wonder what comes next. Quiet Man isn’t advice, and it isn’t therapy. It’s simply an observation, a way of naming the quiet so it doesn’t sit there alone. If it speaks to you, please pass it forward.

Mirror, mirror on the wall. I am my father after all.My father never really retired. He set one set of tools down, then picked up another. When I once asked him why he kept working after “retirement,” he smiled and mentioned a colleague, a family friend. “Who looks older, me or him?” my fath...

29/08/2025

20/08/2025

“Sometimes,” Pooh thought to himself as he drifted gently down the stream on a log, umbrella in one paw and honey jar in the other, “life is not about rushing to the next thing, but about floating along and noticing the sky reflected in the water, the trees waving as if to say hello, and the bees buzzing kindly in the distance. You see, when you let the river carry you, it doesn’t matter if you don’t know exactly where you’re going. What matters is that you’ve got a bit of honey for company, a bit of shade for comfort, and a heart that knows how to enjoy the quiet in-between moments. Because, really, those small, unhurried adventures often turn out to be the sweetest ones of all.”

11/08/2025

We’ve added a second chapter to The Quiet Man series. A place for men to stop for a moment, think, and maybe catch a glimpse of themselves in words that don’t always get spoken.

Every couple of weeks we put something out. Nothing polished. Not advice. Not a pep talk. Just real bits and pieces that come from lived moments.

The Quiet Man is for people who might seem steady enough, but who carry more than most realise. Who want to keep their strength yet, every now and then, let a bit of softness in.

This one’s called “Empathy: The Key That Unlocks the Caged Bird”. It’s about being with someone in their storm. Not fixing it. Not hurrying them along. Just being there.

Like the rest, it sits next to our work at prop.org.au. Free, straightforward tutorials made to help friends, families, workmates, neighbours, anyone close to someone doing it tough, see mental health without the old stigma getting in the way.

These four short tutorials aren’t for the person in the middle of the struggle. They’re for the people around them, the ones who want to be better at showing up. Each one takes around ten minutes to read, with two short videos from people who’ve been there themselves. Honest. Hopeful. Real.

If this Quiet Man piece feels like it might matter to someone you know, pass it on.

https://www.prop.org.au/post/empathy-the-key-that-unlocks-the-caged-bird

“I’m fine,” he says, almost without thinking.The universal script.Said in the same voice you’d use to tell a waiter the meal was good when it wasn’t.But you can feel it.The quiet tension under the words.The weight tucked inside that small, worn phrase.“Fine” is a mask sewn from caution...

10/08/2025

One evening, as the sky turned the colour of soft dreams and the stars were beginning to yawn their way into the night, Pooh and Piglet sat side by side on a little hill, not saying much, which is how some of the best conversations begin.

After a while, Piglet leaned gently against Pooh’s shoulder. “Pooh,” he whispered, “what if one day everything changes?”

Pooh was quiet for a moment, listening to the wind brushing through the trees like a lullaby. Then he said, “Things might change, Piglet. That’s what time does. Trees grow taller, paths twist in new directions, and we may find ourselves walking through different kinds of days. But you know what never changes?”

Piglet looked up. “What?”

“The bit of my heart where you live,” said Pooh. “That stays just the same. It’s the part that always knows where to find you, no matter where we go, or who we grow into.”

Piglet’s ears wiggled, the way they did when he was very happy. “And I think,” he said, “there’s a bit of my heart that was made just to walk beside you.”

And under the gentle hush of the twilight sky, the two friends sat very still, hearts full and hands almost touching, knowing that whatever changed tomorrow, they had this moment, and each other, forever tucked safely away inside it.**

22/07/2025

We’ve launched a new series called The Quiet Man. It’s a space for men to pause, reflect and reconnect with what often gets left unsaid.

Every fortnight, a short piece will appear. Not self-help. Not performance. Just real stories, lived moments, and reflections that speak to:
• the ache behind “I’m fine”
• the quiet courage in tenderness
• the strength in saying what we’re taught to silence

It’s for men who feel capable yet unseen. Who carry more than they share. Who want strength and softness to sit side by side.

The first post is called “I Hate Small Talk.” It explores what we lose when we keep things on the surface, and what can open when we don’t.

This series lives alongside our core work at prop.org.au: a free, practical tutorial series designed to help men unlearn the stigma around mental health. Each tutorial takes about 10 minutes to read, and is paired with two short videos from people with lived experience, offering honest, hopeful guidance for anyone navigating their own mental health, or supporting someone else.

If this post speaks to you, maybe share it with someone who needs it too.

https://www.prop.org.au/post/post-1

It’s not that I dislike people. Far from it. I just don’t know how to pretend a conversation matters when it doesn’t. The kind about traffic. Weather. Some match I didn’t watch. I can follow along. But it feels like I’m letting something slide when I do.What I want is something real. A mom...

20/07/2025

Introducing the Quiet Man Series

We’re launching a new series on https://www.prop.org.au/the-quiet-man: a space for men to pause, reflect and connect. One short read, every fortnight.

Each piece will be a quiet reflection: personal, raw in places, calm in others, always honest. Nothing about performance or self‑help tropes. Just real voices and lived stories that speak to:
• the ache behind “I’m fine”
• the courage in choosing tenderness
• the power in saying what we’re taught to silence

This series is for:
• men who feel capable yet unseen
• men who carry more than they share
• men who want strength and softness to live alongside each other

Why we’re doing this: because su***de is still the leading cause of death for men aged 14–45. Because too many carry pain in silence. Because vulnerability is where real connection begins.

You’ll continue to find the core of our work (the tutorial that helps men unlearn the stigma) at prop.org.au. But this series is something extra. A quiet companion to the practical work. Gentle invitations to notice what’s true inside you. You don’t need to have it all figured out. You just need to be here.

The first post, “I Hate Small Talk,” explores what we lose when conversations skim the surface, and what opens when we speak beyond it. It’ll be available later this week at prop.org.au, with new pieces following every two weeks.

I hope you’ll come back each fortnight. These reflections aren’t answers, just moments of truth that might feel familiar.

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Content note: If this post brings something up for you, know that you’re not alone. You can speak with someone anytime at Lifeline on 13 11 14.

09/07/2025

Nearly half of all life insurance payouts in Australia now relate to mental health. That’s $2.2 billion. A lot of it coming from people in their 30s. Stress. Burnout. Bullying. Words we’re all hearing more and more.

At PROP, we’ve had a lot of these conversations. Those who’ve kept things quiet for years. Those who seem fine on the surface, but are running on empty underneath.

This article lays it out clearly. Sobering facts worth sitting with.

Special thanks to Lucy Dean for this piece; not her usual beat, but sure does matter.

Insurers say stress, burnout and bullying at work – especially among young people – are among the reasons claimants give for being unable to return to the workforce.