With the Human Connection Project – a set of school-based and corporate workshop programs – founder Matt Boyce is educating people on mental health issues and raising awareness of the connection deficit facing the country.
Suicide is now the biggest killer among young Australians with a shocking average of eight Australians dying from suicide every day. Matt says that in order to start combatting this social issue, “we need to do more to help improve mental health for ourselves and each other.”
The Human Connection Project’s school-based program involves five weeks of mentorship that aims to create a more empathetic, genuine, and empowered youth, while the corporate workshops help transform workplaces into more positive environments.
Matt founded Human Connection Project after experiencing mental health issues of his own during which he’d isolate himself from social situations, shutting out friends and family causing the falling apart of several relationships.
“My depression was caused by a multitude of factors, some of which I had control over. My decision to isiolate my family and friends, shutting them out of my life and struggles, was one of them,”
Matt said
After suffering for a whole year, holding back all his thoughts, he finally reached out to his friends and found relief in opening up. He said, “Once I opened up, other people started to share stories about their own struggles.” It was then that he realised how important human connection was, the ability to share experiences and relate with other people.
So many people still see asking for help as weakness. That’s simply not true, no one should suffer in silence,”
he added.
The Human Connection Project features everything from events and summits that bring the whole community together. For example, Walk & Talk, the event connecting you with the community, letting people express themselves while they enjoy a nice walk outdoors.
There are plenty of events to discover and ways to engage with the community. Just visit connection.org.au for more information on the life-saving program.
