Sometimes, the best way to start a conversation about a new dad’s mental health is not to ask about mental health at all. It’s to ask: how are you sleeping?

In this episode, Dr Karen Wynter explains why that small question can be a useful way into conversations fathers may otherwise avoid. We talk about the research on poor sleep, distress, depression and suicidal thoughts in the first year of fatherhood — and why there is still no routine mental health check-in designed specifically for new dads.

We also explore father–infant attachment, the role of support and criticism between partners, and why fathers can feel like they are simply “in the room” during appointments that are meant to support the whole family. Karen shares what more father-inclusive care could look like in practice, from small actions by GPs, midwives and maternal and child health nurses through to larger changes in training, services and policy.

We also discuss the Australian Fatherhood Research Consortium, intimate partner violence prevention, what COVID revealed about fathers’ caregiving, and Karen’s advice for families preparing for a second child.

Dr Karen Wynter researches perinatal mental health, fatherhood, family wellbeing and how health services can better include fathers.

If this conversation brings someone to mind — especially a new or expecting dad — send it their way.

Why don’t kids tell their parents what’s really going on?

According to Martin Heppell, it often comes back to something simple: kids don’t talk because adults don’t talk either — about failure, embarrassment, worry, and the times they’ve stuffed up.

Martin is a presenter with The Resilience Project and a dad of four. In this conversation, he unpacks what resilience actually means beyond “toughen up”, how parents can create the conditions for their kids to open up, and why being a safe person is more important than having the perfect answer.

We also get into the reality of adolescence now: social media, body image, comparison, connection, mindfulness, and why this generation isn’t less resilient — they’re growing up in a very different world.

For dads, Martin talks honestly about the pressure of early parenthood, losing touch with mates, looking after your own mental health, and why asking for help is not weakness.

He also shares a personal story about childhood trauma, the importance of an open door at home, and why support matters when life gets heavy.

You’ll leave with practical ways to have better conversations with your kids, your partner, and your mates.

Most of us will care for someone dying, and almost none of us are taught how. Psychologist and researcher Kerrie Noonan wants to change that.

Kerrie coined the framework of "death literacy" — our collective skills, experience, action and knowledge around death and dying — and has spent the last decade researching what actually helps people navigate loss well. In this conversation she explains why death literacy sits in communities, not just individuals, why normalising conversations about death only gets us so far, and what she learned bringing her own mother home to die. She also unpacks the idea of an "emotional will" — a way of passing on memory and meaning that has nothing to do with money — and why grief doesn't move through neat stages, no matter what we've been told.

Kerrie is a psychologist, palliative care bereavement coordinator, and researcher connected to La Trobe University's Public Health Palliative Care Unit and the Death Literacy Institute.

Expect to walk away thinking differently about grief, ritual, and what it actually means to be prepared — not scared — of death.