#003 Ft. Bridie Duggan, 2017 Young Australian of The Year (NT) raising $27,000 for mental health

The Campus Experience with Josh Farr

In this episode of The Campus Experience, I’m joined by Bridie Duggan who was awarded the Young Australian of the Year for the Northern Territory in 2017 due to her work as a mental health advocate. WARNING: This podcast includes a conversation about a mental health & suicide. If you or anyone you know might be experiencing mental health challenges, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14, or The beyondblue Support Service who provide advice and support via telephone 24/7 (on 1300 22 4636), daily web chat (between 3pm–12am) and email (with a response provided within 24 hours). After growing up in the regional Northern Territory, Bridie was personally moved to take action after the loss of a close friend. Through a GoFundMePage & a social-media campaign where she did thousands of burpees & shared them online, Bridie raised more than $27,000 for the Livin Foundation who have reached more than 54,000 people through their advocacy work. Today, we’re so fortunate to be joined by Bridie to discuss her experiences in leadership, her work in fundraising & the importance of speaking openly about mental health. Some of my favorite quotes from this episode included: “I always wanted to be one of the best so I wanted to motive others” “You’re only as strong as your weakest player so it’s about building up others” “The best thing I excel at is finding out how others learn” “When I got the call at the time to say that I was nominated… I actually hung up on them, saying “Sorry, I haven’t nominated [myself] for anything.” I had 8 [university] exams coming up. They [called back and] said, “I don’t think you understand how big this award is,” and I was like, “I don’t think you understand how tough these exams are!”” “Find your rock” “You might be having a bad day but you’ve always got tomorrow to look forward to” “I thought, “what’s an exercise everyone hates?” What I’ll do is (100 burpees) & make videos so people can donate & do it with me. The release of endorphins after you’re moving is incredible & I wanted others to realise how good it is to get your body moving for your mental health.” “The most (burpees we did) was about 400 a day because we had 4 workplaces we had to go and visit.” “People don’t really follow what you do, they follow why you do it” Contact Bridie: LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bridie-duggan-8661a293/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/bridie_duggan Resources: - https://livin.org/ - https://www.beyondblue.org.au/about-us/contact-us For more interviews with leaders like Felicity, make sure you follow Campus Consultancy. Facebook: facebook.com/campusconsultancyAU LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/campusconsultancy/ Speak with you again soon!