‘Prevention is better than cure’ may sound cliche, but it still holds true, even for mental health issues.
That’s exactly why The Man Cave, a charity that has been around for a decade, is leading the charge on preventative mental health challenges faced by teenage boys and young men and providing them with a sense of belonging and connection.
The charity’s facilitators and role models work with boys in high schools across Australia using different tools and techniques to help them build emotional expression, literacy and intelligence as well as greater relationships with their families, friends and teachers.
“The cornerstone of our work is promoting healthy and positive masculinity,” said The Man Cave CEO Ben Vasiliou. “This is not telling boys there’s something wrong with them; it’s meeting them with nothing but unconditional positive regard and helping them realise that they have all the tools, techniques, behaviours and feelings inside of them. It’s just about amplifying that and giving them the opportunity to speak and be the best versions of themselves.”
According to Mr Vasiliou, the short-term intended outputs and outcomes of The Man Cave’s work are around understanding self and relationships with others and navigating the complex world of being a teenager or a young man, both online and in-person.
“The Man Cave is all about giving boys the opportunity to explore the range of their masculinity. There are many beautiful parts of masculinity, and there are some traditional, outdated expressions of masculinity that are no longer serving boys, young men and the people around them. Our workshops give boys the tools they need to be great men in 2025 and live a strong, fulfilling life,” he emphasised.
At the THRIVE National Youth Summit, Mr Vasiliou will talk about advancing prevention-focused solutions to support the mental health and wellbeing of young men through integrated systems. Ahead of the summit, he gave Third Sector an overview of the topic.
How can we address early mental health needs and reduce barriers to access for young men?
In both the national and international discourse at the moment, we’re hearing plenty of examples of challenges teenage boys and young men are facing, as well as the emergence of research exploring the impacts of those challenges on our communities.
The extreme end of this results in significant harm. We know that suicide is the leading cause of death for men aged 15-44 in Australia, and we also know that men are perpetrating the vast majority of domestic violence against women and children. What we want to do is to explore the opportunity to prevent these challenges from arising.
There’s so much focus on the crisis end and the response end when things go wrong. Rightfully so, there should be funding and support mechanisms for men and others who need this, but what we want to do is to build the groundwork early when boys are still forming themselves and their character, as well as when their brain and heart are still developing and growing. We want to show them a different and new way, or even possibly a reimagined way, to be kind to themselves and others.
I want to demonstrate through the work we do and the impact of the insights and evidence offered to me that if we get in early, we don’t have to focus so much on the crisis end. It’s still a better investment to focus on prevention by working with boys younger and earlier in safe spaces and giving them the opportunity to find their own path as opposed to figuring that out later in life.
What proactive strategies can help prevent mental health crises and promote long-term wellbeing among young men?
We deliver a Level 1 workshop to high school students aged 13 to 18, and this is a safe space where we send in two highly trained facilitators who have different backgrounds. They work with the whole year level of cohort in the school and take them through a full-day facilitated experience. This is not just a corporate keynote or presentation; it’s a fully held experience where boys are taken through three or four different strategies that they can use and take away from the session.
We have some programmatic interventions and techniques. One of them is called Check-In. It’s an honest conversation with yourself and your mates about how you’re feeling and what you’re experiencing in life. How does your body, mind and heart feel? And we practise and model these conversations by having a facilitator share stories with the boys that show them it’s OK to open up, be vulnerable and share with their mates. Embedded in that theory is some research out there that shows a high percentage of men require opening up about their feelings to their mates because it’s not met or received very well.
We also take them through what we call the LEAD tool: listen, empathise, ask and do. All the conversations in the space we’ve created are also augmented with actual tools and techniques that the boys can take away, and they can check in with their mates later or use the LEAD tool when they’re having a tough conversation.
How can we create culturally safe, integrated support networks through mental health, education and community services?
The lens of gender equity also needs to include men. Yes, it’s very important that gender equity is very much focused on women and girls and lifting them up, but we can hold two thoughts and strategies at once. Boys and men also need male role models and healthcare practitioners.
It’s not about taking away from girls or women to support men; it’s about lifting them both. And that’s an important realisation we need to have as a community. If we don’t apply a gender lens, we’re missing the opportunity to make real change and for men to feel like they can make that change themselves.
What should people look forward to in your session?
They can look forward to a realistic, honest and open conversation about the reality facing teenage boys and young men. What I hope they will take away from the session is some hope and optimism moving forward, realising that teenage boys and young men are absolutely beautiful in their entirety. And to create sustainable change, it’s time to stop demonising the majority who are simply doing their best and provide opportunities for them to grow and give the best version of themselves.
Join the conversation on breaking the stigma around young men’s mental health and what real support looks like. Register for THRIVE 2025 now.
Geraldine is currently the Content Producer for Third Sector, an Akolade channel. Throughout her career, she has written for various industries and international audiences. Her love for writing extends beyond the corporate world, as she also works as a volunteer writer at her local church. Aside from writing, she is also fond of joining fun runs and watching musicals.
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