Why did you become a Sparkie?
I had wanted to volunteer for a long time, and a recent career change provided a little give in my schedule to enable that. After the community consultation, I knew I wanted to be involved as I thought it was an important initiative. The studies show that loneliness has a significant impact on health outcomes. Now that we have the science to back this up, we need to do something about it to keep society moving in a healthy direction. 

What brings you joy?
Time! To be able to designate time to something meaningful like Spark, brings me joy.  And also to something simply pleasurable, like creativity or being out in nature or windsurfing. I’ve been quite surprised how even as a facilitator, being involved with Spark has filled my cup in a way I wasn’t expecting. I know I’ve got my facilitator hat on – I open the door, I turn on the lights, I light the fire – but the joy I get from it is more truly as a participant. The process of delivering the solutions is just as enjoyable for the participants as it is for the volunteers. 

Do you have any hobbies?
I haven’t put a lot of time into hobbies since I started working professionally, which is a real shame, and I’d like my kids not to follow in my footsteps there. But I’ve been putting more time into this recently. My hobbies are windsurfing and creative writing, and music.

Do you have personal experience with loneliness?
My very first living out of home experience was by myself for a year and a quarter. There were definite moments when I realised that the absence of other human beings for prolonged periods was a challenging experience. I was craving the contact of other people. That was an interesting thing to acknowledge after coming from quite a tight knit family group. It was a time when everyone was busy and I was by myself.

More recently, if it wasn’t for Hayley (my wife), I probably wouldn’t see my own friends much or have many friends. She organises for me to see my best mate once a month. She’s so lovely like that and I am so bad at organising things.  I feel like men are so bad at making social arrangements. Not all men, but most men share this view based on my conversations at Spark Mateship. I wouldn’t say that in recent times I’ve identified as lonely, however, that’s maybe where I’ve been surprised at how much Spark has filled up my cup.

What’s your favourite movie?
The Lost Highway, 1997

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