Go On, Mate

The Go on, Mate lads are delighted to have Jake Bailey on this episode of the podcast to talk all things boys' schools, adventure racing, writing, and what leadership looks like. Jake Bailey is the best selling author of "What Cancer Taught Me", a motivational speaker, founder of Sortd, and resident of the lovely Gold Coast. He is an avid cyclist and adventure racer, and has wisdom beyond his years. It was an absolute pleasure to be able to chat with Jake, to reminisce about the good old days of high school and to delve into what it's like being a head student at one of the most prestigious schools in the country. Season 1 episode 7 drops tonight!

The Go on, Mate lads are happy to join you all for this episode from a windy, rainy Pōneke. In a slight left turn from our usual topics of journaling and pulling pints, we're stoked to be joined by Art Green, to talk all things Reality TV, Boxing and whatever the hell an NAD-IV is. A huge thanks to Art for joining us on the show; reaching out to him was a bit of a shot in the dark but he responded almost immediately, and his passion for talking about all things mental health is pretty evident and pretty awesome, especially coming from someone known by the whole country. 

Our guest in this episode is Ryan Meachen, or as we like to call him, Meach. Like us lads at Go on, Mate, Meach has spent a decent portion of his adult life working in a pastoral care role at Victoria University of Wellington. He is currently working towards a PhD in organisational behaviour at Victoria University of Wellington. His knowledge of young people, books, and fried chicken are unmatched. It should be stated that due to University policy and the privacy of all concerned, we can't grill him on most of his encounters with mental illness within his role.  However he's a terrific person to gain some insight from, he's got a terrific moustache, and is a role model to all who know him.

Just a reminder that this is the second part of our episode with The Dusty Sunday Sessions. If you haven't heard it yet, we'd really encourage you to listen to part one where we go in depth about bartending, drinking culture and boys schooling. On the current episode we're talking in a bit more depth about whether going to a boys school equips the young men of today, before diving into our personal struggles with mental health. 

TW: Mention of SuicideOn this episode, we were blessed with the presence of Norm and Tom from The Dusty Sunday Sessions. We have realised that the lads' chat portion of the show was a bit lacking so we thought it best to invite the real experts on. Between their infatuation for all things ACC, waterslide diarrhea stories, and their knowledge of the horror that is working in hospitality, these lads have it all. More importantly, last December they aired an episode on their podcast simply titled 'Mental Health'. This episode was a huge part of the reason why we started Go on, Mate; very rarely had we heard lads talk about their feelings so openly to the world, and it made us realise that it was something we wanted to hear more of.Due to the depth of discussion that we got in to and the ridiculous number of tangents in the episode, we are releasing the session in two episodes.

TW: Suicide, Anxiety, Depression, Eating DisordersOur guest for episode two of Go on, Mate is Sarah Saunders. Sarah has just completed her BA at Victoria University of Wellington and has entered the workforce, working under Greens Minister Chlöe Swarbrick in Parliament. Sarah is no stranger to the podcasting world, co-hosting The Oversharers Podcast for 15 months working alongside our very own producer Frankie! Between cutting down tyrannical landlords and forwarding the liberal agenda, Sarah is a fountain of knowledge, being a keen writer, an ace pub quizzer, and a staunch lover of Six60, Sylvanian families, and raspberry cordial infused jugs of Export at JJs.

The inaugural guest of Go on, Mate is Michael Turnbull aka Mikey is the 2021 president, a struggling Law student, and among other things an all-round good Kiwi. A Hamilton native but Wellington local, you are most likely to find him at the Hunter Lounge, in the VUWSA offices, or out on the streets getting stuck in with some form of protest. He is no stranger to the world, hosting Fresher 4-6 on SalientFM back in his first year at Uni. He identifies as a student advocate and has always had a strong interest in fighting for student issues, making sure that we get the fair go when it comes to our education, flatting situations or where we can go to drink when the halls kick us out at 10pm. When it comes to mental health, he has his own journey that has somewhat merged with his life in VUWSA, and some major projects that we have seen in the past few years have directly come from his hard work.Hosted by Jack Walker & Sam Bell.Produced by Francesca Georgia Pietkiewicz