ENCOURAGING men to talk about their feelings is just one thing that Chorus support worker Toby Hill wants to talk about with his clients.
Chorus is a community care organisation, providing a service to support people’s needs later in life, when living with disability or on the mental health recovery journey.
Mr Hill (27) said working at Chorus wasn’t part of his original plan.
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READ NOW“I actually worked as a refrigeration mechanic but after eight years I got to the point that I didn’t get much job satisfaction and I couldn’t really rectify the feeling,” he said.
“I was incredibly suicidal, I was in struggle town.
“I knew I didn’t want to feel this way and I needed to sort myself out mentally which was when I quit my job.
“I figured out that I can apply how I disassociate and detach from my feelings and use it to help people instead of it using me.”
That was when Mr Hill signed up to study at University of Notre Dame, leading to a bachelor of behavioural science.
He said it was about the same time he signed up to Chorus.
“When I walked into Chorus I got a surprise; they really cared about job satisfaction,” he said.
“One of the workers Craig said that I talked really well and there were very little male support workers and they were screaming for it.
“I get great job satisfaction and the learning part that everyone is different, it’s fun for me to approach a person and find a way to help them.”
If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide phone Lifeline on 13 11 14.