Mr Perfect men in it for the long haul

Mr Perfect is a meeting of men who are in it for the long haul, making the pact to gather on a Sunday for their monthly barbecue and yes, there’s banter.

This makes sense, where there are men, there will be a barbecue, and banter.

Their mission is a simple – “to connect men across Australia over a relaxed, free barbecue” and to chat about all things “life.”

Emphasis on “life.”

If you check out the Mr Perfect website you’ll quickly find that there are barbecue meet-ups all across Australia, and the trend to gather in the name of men’s mental health is really catching on, and so is Narrabri.

Matt Keeffe who said his first experience with Mr Perfect at a Toowoomba meet-up of 130 members, was game-changing for his mental health, knew he needed to bring the concept to a town like Narrabri.

“There is not enough talk about mental health in Narrabri, services are limited, and we just wanted to get a conversation going.

“Our community is suffering from a high rate of suicide, and domestic breakdowns, and men are just silently bearing it.”

Matt and Cliff joined together over shared experiences and the lived and learned wisdom that talking to each other helps.

Having figured out the formula, they want to share it.

The not-for-profit group reiterates that they “are not a counselling group,” wanting to be seen as social gatherings where men get together to talk about everything, “the
weather, the footy, what’s going on around town, the types of therapy help that members can be directed to,” said Matt.

“It’s to get the boys in town, out, outside of the pub, in broad daylight, talking.”

When a local supermarket heard about the initiative, they quickly jumped on the bandwagon and said they would donate for every barbecue that was held, and Mr Perfect was amazed by the support.

Though the conversation isn’t centred around sports, as is natural with men, attentions turned quickly to the Narrabri footy season but continued to maintain an undercurrent of productive sharing.

“If I didn’t have my injuries, I’d be out running around with my boy, tossing the ball, there is nothing greater for a Dad than to get to do those things with his son,” said Cliff.

“This is an all-ages group, we aren’t just for Aboriginal men or an elder demographic.

“We want everyone to stop in, stay for a free sausage sandwich and make it a part of their daily routine to have social chats.”

The conversation around mental health did come up, David Hedley was thankful to find the group, saying that mental health services, especially ones online can take months to gain access to, and at the end of the day, talking is what really helps.

There is a lot of talk about wives, and the women with men in their lives who are pushing them out the door and making them go to these meet-ups.

These self-proclaimed Mr “imperfects” have been through it all, and they’re happy to be out here, in broad daylight, with open arms to embrace any new brothers into the group.

Michael Wales saw a message about the meeting on Facebook and said he just wanted to stop in, introduce himself and say thanks for putting something like this on.

“I’m definitely going to share this with my mates and encourage them to come down,” said Mr Wales.