It's Cool To Cry Workshop

What is it?

The workshop is designed with two outcomes in mind:

1) Shift attitudes about mental health.

2) Get people talking about their feelings before they become overwhelming.

How I

Shift Attitudes

By drawing parallels with physical health, this workshop empowers people to know that their mental health is normal and can be worked on.

For example: We look after our physical health to prevent physical illness. Similarly, we can look after our mental health to prevent mental illness.

We use diet and exercise to prevent, say a heart attack. The same way we can talk about what we're feeling before it becomes overwhelming to try and prevent mental illness.

I cut through any confusion between mental health and mental illness and make mental health conversations approachable.

How (& Why) I

Get people talking

You can't describe what you're feeling if you don't know the word for it.

I give people tools to properly identify and articulate what they're feeling, so they can have better conversations about their mental health.

This is an evidence based practice known as "affect labelling. " Doing this properly automatically helps the brain to manage and respond to an emotional experience. It's commonly referred to as "Name it to tame it."

I run a simple exercise at the beginning and end of the presentation, to show people how they can improve their emotional vocabulary and IQ.

This is about practice, not perfection.

FAQs

Who runs the workshop?

It's Cool To Cry founder, Jack Davis. Jack is Mental Health First Aid trained, has a wealth of lived experience and in his words "froths mental health".

How long does it go for?

Typical workshops run between 50 and 60 minutes. Some run over depending on the amount of participant involvement (which is encouraged).

Is it in person or on-line?

Either! However, Jack is based in Melbourne so please consider this.

Who is it suitable for?

The workshop has been run at schools, sporting clubs and businesses. There is reference to suicide and mental illness, it's sugested that anyone 16 and younger is accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Who said what?

Kat The Label
"Jack facilitated a Mental Health Workshop for our team at our Kat the Label and it was an incredibly valuable experience. As a business, we prioritise maintaining open dialogue within our team, and Jack delivered an important and impactful message that truly resonated with everyone in attendance. Jack’s approachable and relatable delivery style made mental health conversations feel accessible and comfortable, which was greatly appreciated by everyone. Highly recommended for any workplace looking to foster a more open and supportive environment."
Kate Nixon - Founder
Able Foods
"Jack created a safe forum for our team to discuss ways we can work on being more aware of our own mental health and how to best support those around us with actionable steps and tools. We are so grateful for Jack giving his time and are pleased to say that these conversations sparked a change in our organisation with the creation of a mentally healthy plan so that we can foster an environment that empowers those to be open and honest about their mental health."
Spencer Ratliff - CEO
Vitality Brands
"We were a little nervous to see how that sharing section would go, but clearly your casual, human touch and opener of a dog poo story, made the team feel right at home – so thank you for nailing a conversation that can be uncomfortable for many. The follow up feedback has been great already."
Carly Toth - GM of People & Culture
Future Glass
"It's Cool To Cry presented to our sales, admin and warehousing teams. This is a very diverse group of people coming from all walks of life. I can safely say everyone in our business now has new and informed ideas about mental health and how they can improve their own."
Jay Flavell - Director
Basis Builders
"There was a point in time where I was really struggling with my mental health and it really effected my work and I felt like I couldn’t talk to anyone I worked with about it. But after today I feel much more confident about going up to a colleague and having that chat. So thank you so much again for today I really got a lot out of it."
Participant
The Hunt Strength & Conditioning
"Jack ran workshops to my staff and clients and the feedback was outstanding. Physical and mental health go hand in hand, Jack made clear parallels between them to help everyone understand mental health more clearly. The workshops provided great insight and tangible tools for everyone to use to better their mental health"
Eddie Espinosa - Owner
Australian Brushware Corp.
"What a great initiative with a powerful message. As a business, we take the health and wellbeing of all employees seriously so welcomed the opportunity to hear first-hand from Jack, in our bid to normalise mental health through encouraging conversations."
Jamie Mapstone -
National Retail Operations Manager
Old Brighton Football Club
"Jack has presented the It's Cool To Cry workshop on numerous occasions to our men's and women's teams. Jack has an ability to unlock thoughts in peoples heads about mental health. He has a knack in making mental health conversations more approachable via his lived experience, humour and obvious passion."
Tom Clarke - Club President
Mind The Change
"The workshop helped open so many doors and conversations around our work and how we can operate as a team"
Althea Gordon - Artistic Director
Horsham College
"Educational, engaging and relevant to today. In my 15 years of teaching I've never seen a group of students more engaged with a workshop as they were with Jack's. He left students and staff ready to have better and more meaningful mental health conversations."
Kyle Pinto - VCE Teacher