What is mental health?
In one word, Tony Hodder says, it comes down to behaviour.
Mr Hodder, founder of Wingman Support Solutions, helps tackle the unique barriers that young people face to accessing mental health support.
Experiencing social anxiety from a young age, Mr Hodder was determined not to let his humble upbringing define him, or who he wanted to become. However, for Mr Hodder, he was introduced to [mental health] for the first time 10 years ago, when he moved back to Australia.
“My partner and I became a blended family and we were having our first child together, I was financially secure, I was purchasing my own business, I was at the top of my life, the happiest I had ever been,” he said. “But it only lasted five minutes.”
Following complications during birth due to a systematic error at the hands of the hospital, Mr Hodder lost his daughter Bella.
“It took us to a different place, where there was a lot of suffering, it was really really hard,” he said. “My whole life just fell apart, we split the family up, I was self-sabotaging, I lost my business, lost everything, to the point of being homeless.”
Focused only on seeking justice for his daughter’s death, Mr Hodder said he felt everyone was moving on with their lives, and he couldn’t.
“It drove me to the point of suicide…and I decided to end my life,” he said. “I went to drive off the bridge, but..what popped through my unconscious mind was that ‘I can’t swim’, and the next thought was ‘It’s cold, I don’t really want to be cold’.
“Because I caught that thought, I pulled over [the car] and analysed it. I thought, if I’m trying to kill myself, why would I care about being cold or being able to swim?”
From that moment, Mr Hodder started asking: “how do I help myself?” and decided to relocate back to the Gold Coast with his kids to “unify, come back, and change his career”.
After spending 20 years in the hospitality industry managing bars, Mr Hodder changed careers and began work in Mental Health and Residential care: a passion to help others ignited by loss.
“I started studying people’s behaviour and I was naturally good at it, especially with young people and extreme behaviors,” he said.
Mr Hodder spent the next 6 years helping Australia’s troubled youth and researching mental health, through this, Wingman Support Solutions was born.
Wingman Support Solutions
Wingman Support Solutions offer training for those looking to make a change in their life, providing a pathway towards work in the healthcare profession, within the area of care and support services.
Mr Hodder aspires to share his story and empower others in the hope that they too can use these tools to make positive changes to their own mental health.
“True self-awareness is understanding all your conscious behaviour before you choose how to react and respond,” he said. “Wingman is all about how to choose to overcome pain now, by managing how to become accountable in the present moment.”
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