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MENDS Program - February - 2026

Men Exploring New Directional Strategies

What Is MENDS

The MENDS Program is more than just a ‘support line. It is a structured program offering proven and practical strategies for men during or after separation and through significant relationship and life transitions.

Men Exploring New Directional Strategies is a structured program that offers:
• Practical reviews of the known high-risk areas for separating (or at-risk of separating) males.
• A proven record of damage-containment with separating clients.
• A focus on practical and ethical issues and solutions.
• Experienced mentoring through significant life transitions


What's Actually Covered

Physical health challenges and strategies Mental health challenges and strategies Maintaining relationships with children Common sense approaches with new relationships Social support issues and challenges MENDS program groups bring together men experiencing difficulties and relationship breakup – because breaking up is hard to do!

Men often struggle in dealing with isolation, loneliness, pain, anger, confusion, loss and feeling powerless.

Throughout the program, professional facilitators provide hard-to-get practical information and assist you to find personal insight, practical how-tos, and a clearer future direction. If you…
• Feel like a failure and your dreams are being shattered
• Are angry and resentful at someone you once cared for
• Feel you’ve lost your family, friends, house or even more
• Feel that your performance at work is a real concern
• Finding yourself alone, confused and unsure
• Feeling at times like everything is against you
• Hiding your true feelings from others to cope
• Wanting to know more about rights and responsibilities
• Want to know the do’s and don’ts of being the father your children need
• Want your next relationship to work better
• Want to find your way back to being happy again

.....then contact us, for your own sake; and if you have kids; for theirs. They need a healthy and available Dad right now!

Program Delivery

The MENDS program is delivered in an online learning format. This involves online learning materials, reading, reflecting and completing purposeful activities outside of the structured online sessions.

How extensive is the problem? Not knowing where you are going can sometimes be an adventure, even exciting. When your life and the well-being of your loved ones swing in the balance, it feels more like a potential, long-term disaster. And disaster is one word to describe the feeling of moving quickly from the familiarity of a long-standing relationship to the confusion and uncertainty that often exists in separation..... separation from almost everything that was familiar; from many of the things that may have made the grind seem worthwhile.

Suddenly words like residency, access, contact and settlement seem to flood your waking moments and try their damnedest to destroy even the little sleep you can secure. Even if those words weren’t unfamiliar, they always applied to someone else. Now, it is your life they refer to; your family, your children and your property. And yes, it seemed painful for others who were battling to survive, but now the shoe really is on the other foot. The effects of these emotional difficulties may have even rendered your decision-making near paralysed, right at a time when you needed to be right on top of things.

When a Father finds himself separated, a lot is at stake; and in many areas. Shock and stress can lead to poor decision-making, poor eating habits, lack of exercise, loss of sleep and even substance abuse. One or two of these can create serious problems, but now the combined effect, can lead to depression, anxiety, aggressive anti-social behaviour and even worse - suicide.

Men are not generally socialised to share their problems, so when the pressure seems too great, silent retreat can easily result in being stuck in anger, anxiety or depressive withdrawal. Work, jobs and even longstanding careers can be placed in jeopardy. Clear thinking and decision-making are severely tested, easily leading to children becoming the pawns in a no-win, no-holds-barred scramble between parents who aren’t coping. Separation and divorce are painful for everyone involved, but realistically can also be the door to new beginnings. If relationships must end, the sooner the damage can be contained and positive starts commenced, the better for all concerned.

Every year in Australia, over 50,000 significant relationships end permanently. That is around 1000 families per week, every week of the year, and who stand to lose the contribution and important input of a Father. Any effort directed at minimising the social cost of those disruptions is making an incalculable, positive contribution. “Separating men tend to be more confused, more angry, and less inclined and able to access services to help them through separation. There exists a high risk that the longer and more deeply they feel inadequate to cope with the stresses of separation, the longer it takes them to reacquire healthy function. Their general health, sense of wellbeing, their work, relationships with their children; and old and new relationships, all seem to be casualties in one way or another.Despite their common tendency to socially isolate and tough it out, separating men need timely, credible, and experienced help-providing strategies they can afford.” - Researcher into men and separation

By joining the MENDS program you will be required to participate in group sessions and commit to completing intersession tasks. Your outcomes are directly related to the input and energy you bring to each session. The program design contains three progressively delivered modules that interconnect and provide a validated structured pathway for positive transitions and sustainable change.

MENDS Program Curriculum

Marsha Boyle Boyle

Owen Pershouse

John Smith

Developer

Highly Recommended Course. Easy to Understand, Informative, Very Well Organized. The Course is Full of Practical and Valuable for Anyone who wants to Enhance their Skills. Really Enjoyed it. Thank you!!

Course Pricing

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