Introduction
For many men in midlife, the question isn’t just about surviving the pressures of work and family — it’s about whether there’s something more. Tim Hewson knows that territory better than most. After 27 years in high-pressure banking and finance, navigating panic attacks in corporate bathrooms, a marriage breakdown, and the slow unravelling of everything he thought defined him, Tim didn’t just rebuild. He created something remarkable: a movement that is changing the way Australian men think about mental health, community, and what it means to be a bloke.
Why this conversation matters for men in midlife
If you’re somewhere in your forties or fifties and you’ve ever felt like you were ticking every box on the outside while quietly falling apart on the inside, this episode is for you. Tim’s story is one of quiet courage — the kind that doesn’t make headlines but changes lives. He spent years as what he calls a high-functioning depressive: wearing the suit, providing for his family, and locking himself in cubicles to ride out panic attacks before walking back to his desk like nothing had happened.
It was divorce in his early forties that finally cracked it open. And rather than run from the discomfort, Tim ran towards himself — getting professional help, rebuilding as a father, and asking the question that so many men in midlife avoid: who am I, beyond what I do?
What we discuss in this episode
- Tim’s 20 years of hidden anxiety and panic attacks — and why he kept them secret
- How divorce became the catalyst for deep personal reinvention
- The difference between defining yourself by what you do versus who you are
- Why men often don’t question their lives until a crisis forces the issue
- How ‘Timmy 2.0’ emerged — more open, more vulnerable, and more connected
- The origins of Mongrels Men — from a golf day in 2008 to a national charity with 30 locations
- Why movement and shoulder-to-shoulder activity unlocks conversation in men
- The power of structure for men after divorce, career change, or major life disruption
- Brave spaces versus safe spaces — and why the language matters
- His Story, Australia’s only live storytelling event for men, by men
- Tim’s closing wisdom: what we survive makes us stronger, play the long game, and be kind to yourself
Mongrels Men and His Story
What started as a bunch of middle-aged blokes kicking a ball around on Sydney’s Northern Beaches has become one of Australia’s most quietly effective mental health charities. Mongrels Men operates on a simple but powerful premise: get men moving, get them alongside each other, and the conversation follows. Weekly walk-and-talks, community meet-ups, sporting events, and ‘Dog House’ mental health workshops now run across New South Wales, Queensland, the ACT, and Western Australia.
Tim’s newest platform, His Story, takes a different approach. It’s a live storytelling event for men, by men — held in a pub, over a burger and a beer, where blokes from their twenties through to their seventies take the microphone and share eight minutes of lived experience. No yoga mats. No circles. Just stories that make you laugh, wince, and occasionally wipe your eye. It’s already being described as Australia’s only regular live storytelling event of its kind.
Together, these two initiatives represent something genuinely rare: a practical, culturally intelligent response to the male mental health crisis. Men account for seven of the nine daily deaths by suicide in Australia. They’re statistically lonelier than women. And they’re far less likely to seek help. Tim’s answer isn’t to lecture them — it’s to create the conditions where connection just happens naturally.
Reflections and Experiments
Pod provides reflections on each conversation, summarises what he has learned from the guest, and suggests one experiment he plans to try as a result of their shared information.
Pod's reflections
Personal follow-on episodes unpacking the themes, insights and lived experience behind each discussion.
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Guest info
Tim Hewson
Tim Hewson is a mental health advocate, keynote speaker, and founder of two organisations dedicated to improving the lives of Australian men. After nearly 30 years in senior leadership roles at major financial institutions including Commonwealth Bank, ING Bank Australia, and Rabobank, Tim left corporate life to build something that mattered. In 2021, he founded Mongrels Men, an award-winning charity that uses exercise, community, and conversation to tackle male mental health and suicide prevention.
In 2024, he launched Betterment Consulting, extending his workplace mental health programs to organisations across Australia. In 2025, he created His Story, Australia’s only live storytelling event for men, by men.
Recognised in NSW State Parliament for his work in mental health, Tim is also a Mental Health First Aid Instructor and ASIST Suicide First Aider. He is the proud father of three teenagers and a self-described semi-proficient, non-professional, middle-aged footballer.
