Mental health

Mental health

“There’s no shame in talking about mental health,” says Toholke. “And look, there’s so many organisations such as TIACS that are free, and you can give them a call and a have a yarn to them.”

Suicide among Australia’s tradespeople is tragically common, but there’s nothing embarrassing about speaking up.

“Basically I was a high-functioning alcoholic – I was a bottle-of-rum-a-night man,” says Anthony ‘Tonka’ Toholke. “I had a health scare, and a doctor told me I should lay off the grog, surprisingly enough. That was hard, but I dropped 50 kilos – I used to weigh 140! I should’ve been feeling great. But it turned out that the alcohol was masking my anxiety and depression.” Suicidal, Toholke was admitted to hospital. “Probably my lowest point was working out which tree I wanted to hit with my ute, or what semitrailer out on the road I was going to drive into,” he says.

A former labourer and concrete pourer, Toholke is now a customer support rep for mining heavy equipment in Mount Isa. He knows firsthand how awkward it can be when you’re trying to confront mental health issues – whether on a job site or at home. Even after hospital, Toholke’s troubles took some shifting. For two years he’d yo-yo between withdrawal and explosive rage that would emerge from nowhere (“You know, the wife asks for a cup of tea and I’d go off my head”). His depression spiralled. “No matter how much good stuff I’d done in a day, that one thing I did wrong would make me feel like a complete failure,” he says. “Useless.”

Former CarpenterFormer Carpenter
TonkaTonka

Normalising conversations about mental health 

Toholke felt like there was no escape – no help available. Former carpenter Dan Allen tells an even more tragic story – only from the other side. The Queensland chippie-turned-high-vis-clothing maker had a close friend commit suicide in 2016. “His name was Dan, too,” says Allen. “I was mentoring him through getting a trade, and I still remember that I was up a ladder when I got a call from him, screaming with excitement, because he’d just landed a mature age apprenticeship. Three days later I woke up to the call that he’d taken his life.”

The case of Dan’s mentee is markedly different to Tonka’s. “I think with Dan it was very much a snap decision. He had a bit of a troubled past, and, you know, it was a mix of heightened emotions, a bit of a relationship challenge, and a gutful of alcohol. And unfortunately he’s gone and done something that he can’t ever take back.”

Changing workplace culture in the trades

Dan’s eventual reply was to start TradeMutt with a fellow chippie, Edward Ross. They make unique – and stylishly garish – high-vis workwear. Each garment is designed to be, in Dan’s own words, “a catalyst to starting the conversation around mental health” (‘THIS IS A CONVERSATION STARTER’ is printed on the back; note the initials).

Allen and Ross also poured their efforts into the TIACS Foundation, a free text, chat and call back service connecting individuals seeking counselling services with qualified professionals. The stats are grim. The trades are particularly vulnerable to suicide; research reveals, for example, that around 190 Australians working in the construction industry die by suicide each year.

“We’re trying to change the culture, and the way we talk about mental health every day on a peer-to-peer basis,” says Allen. “Because it’s always the same old story whenever someone goes and takes their life. Everyone often says the same thing: ‘I didn’t see it coming’.”

Tonka’s workmates didn’t. But eventually opening himself up to support inched him – slowly – towards health. And a grateful, loving, family. “There’s no shame in talking about mental health,” says Toholke. “And look, there’s so many organisations such as TIACS that are free, and you can give them a call and a have a yarn to them.” His life now, says Toholke, is bloody great. He’s happy. His family is happy. And the other contestants in the 2019 Mount Isa Rodeo Queen – a charity fundraising competition – are… well, maybe a little miffed. Because Tonka has the crown.

The TIACS Foundation is where the hairy, moustachioed, 90-odd kilo survivor’s charity fundraising efforts went. “I’m just the second bloke in 20 years to win it!” grins Toholke.

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