“I get stopped all the time; a bloke just has a bit of a chat, says thank you and shakes your hand… That’s your success right there. One young fella at a time.” TIA PRIEST-WILLMOTT meets Menslink’s Ben Gathercole.

For 25 years, young blokes around Canberra have had access to a little bit of extra support in reaching their full potential. 

It’s all thanks to Menslink, a non-profit organisation that provides free counselling, volunteer mentoring and education programs to assist young men aged between 10 and 25 in becoming the great adult men they want to be.

Leading the team is Ben Gathercole, a humble and selfless individual, enjoying his time at the helm.

“I’m just a custodian of Menslink, I’m not going to be there forever, I’m just trying to continue to build Menslink and leave a legacy that will continue,” Ben says. 

Ben grew up loving the world of sports and took every opportunity he could to play. 

“I was very lucky to grow up in a household where sport and education were quite a big thing and I was able to gain my education through my sport,” Ben says. 

This encouragement saw him travel from Sydney to the US where he studied for his university degree. 

After returning to Australia, he “fell into triathlons” and found a pathway in coaching. 

“I spent close to 30 years of my career coaching triathlons, and I was fortunate enough to get to the 2004 Olympic games with a young Canberran – Simon Thompson,” Ben says. 

They worked together until 2010, where Ben was able to develop his professional skillset and work with the ACT Brumbies as their team manager for three and a half years. 

“That then morphed into a totally different sport – motor racing with Cameron Hill, another young Canberran. Cam Hill asked me to be on board and help him with his journey, which I was very fortunate to be part of from 2018 to the covid years.” 

While it may appear there’s not much of a crossover in skills from sports coaching to being the CEO of Menslink, Ben believes it all comes down to some core traits. 

“At the end of the day, it’s really just about people. So, if you just treat people the way you like to be treated, and for me that’s just providing a really clear vision and support network which enables my team at Menslink to get out and do the work,” Ben says. 

“If you stick to those fairly simple things, you’ll find that you’re fairly successful as you go.”

Menslink is now entering its 25th year, with Ben excited about the opportunity to keep growing the programs supporting young men. 

“For us, it’s about the maturing of our services. We’ll always continue to evolve and adapt our education and there’s lots of different education paths that we’re looking at,” Ben says.

Thanks to the Silence is Deadly, Unplugged, and Tribe programs offered by Menslink, more than 10,000 young boys and men in Canberra last year received support in growing into their best selves. 

While the stats are impressive, Ben defines success in a more local way. 

“I get stopped all the time; a bloke just has a bit of a chat, says thank you and shakes your hand,” he says.

“That’s your success right there. One young fella at a time.” 

While the team at Menslink are often confronted with reports about domestic violence and deal with some serious situations, Ben finds optimism by looking at the community in his own backyard.

“The truth is, there’s more good than there are guys that may not be going so well. It’s very easy to look around your local community and realise there’s guys that are quite silent about what they do and they’re brilliant,” Ben says.

It’s all about putting it into perspective, without diminishing the reality.

“The poor behaviour of blokes and certainly the domestic violence picture is never acceptable and is devastating and terrible for all involved and we never condone that.”

As for Ben’s advice to those going through a bit of a rough patch? It all starts with reaching out. 

“It doesn’t matter what service, but if you’re not going that well and you’re not feeling yourself, just reach out. Have a chat to somebody, and if a mate is reaching out to you, just listen. That’s all it is.”

If you or someone you know needs immediate support, call Lifeline on 131114, or Menslink for non-immediate care on 6287 2226.