My mate Greg

Written by All Right? special correspondent, Johnny Moore

This is Greg. He’s my mate. Probably my best mate. He’s also married to my sister Anna. He’s the father of my niece and nephew. I think he’s a hell of a bloke.

He’s let All Right? take his photo to promote men’s mental health because it’s something he cares about.

He reckons not enough men talk about it when they’re struggling and has offered his image to get a discussion started.

Greg’s faced mental health issues in the past. More so before I knew him. We’ve only been mates about a decade. I always tell him I’ve got “old mates and Greg.”

He laughs.

While he’s been happy and healthy for most of the time we’ve been buddies, it hasn’t been a perfect run. The reality is that the old black dog is always waiting around the corner, and even if he’s been waiting a long time he can come visiting when you least need it.

My sister Anna is good at communicating with Greg. She tells him when he’s headed into a dark place and helps find strategies to find the light.

They have a great, robust relationship full of love and laughter. But remember that bit from the wedding vows about “for better or worse”? It’s the “for worse” bit when you can see a really robust relationship.

And that’s what Anna and Greg have. He keeps an eye on her and she watches over him.

They’re a partnership and they’re walking this path that is life together.

Greg and me use laughter as a form of therapy. It must be the Irish blood or something because we’re always up for the craic. I reckon being able to laugh at anything is an important mental skill in life.

I reckon Greg’s a great bloke. He is a world-class husband to my sister and a loving compassionate dad to his kids.

I think he’s really brave for having stood up and letting somebody use his image to promote mental health; to promote the message that it’s ok to not feel ok; to promote the idea that we need to talk about mental health.

Come down and talk to Greg sometime. He’s manly as and he’ll talk about feelings all day long. Believe me, he can talk for days on end. If you can get a word in you’ll feel much better – I promise.