R U OK? has asked me to be an ambassador for them! I totally love their cause and message so of course I said yes. We'll be officially tying the knot early next year.

I was invited to speak at Google for their charity initiative, Google G Give Week. They run it in 48 countries and yesterday marked the first time they've done it here in Australia. Basically it's a whole week of giving to charities. Staff donate whatever they like and the company matches it 3:1. Amazing. Posters everywhere signalled "Show me the money". Love it.

Remember how a little while ago I said that I'm going to start focusing more on the mental health presenting stuff? That was four months ago! Crazy how quickly it goes (ugh. I hate when people say that so often this time of year.. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT'S ALMOST 2015! well yeah.. I just did anyway because it's true) I'm really happy to say that things have been ramping up in that time!

When my oldest brother, Ben, was told to fill out a form for an Economics class in Year 9 regarding his parents' occupations, he listed them as "housewife" and "ice cream man". Although the more poetically inclined scholars might argue those descriptions failed to capture the essence of my parents' role in life, they were at the time still factually accurate descriptions. Ben is more a numbers guy. A few years later my dad's connection to the ice cream world served much more significance. 

As much as she might struggle to admit it my mum is an excellent speaker. We'd only spoken publicly together once before at her book launch a few months ago. One thing you need to know about my mum is that she always gives herself way less credit than she deserves. Her presenting style is as clear, emotive and as well prepared as her writing style. Mine is more the unprepared "that should do the trick" approach which I also apply to cooking, cleaning, and exercising.

I was super thrilled to be invited to speak in Hobart for the very first time for RUOK Day?. I love the cold and I particularly love what RUOK Day? is all about so I put on my warm socks and flew off down south. A bit of rain at an outdoor event never harmed anyone.

I was booked to do a mental health talk to the community of Warren in rural NSW. I've never spent much time in the country and I accidentally wore my velvet pants and faux fur shoes to prove it. A local family, the Austins, had lost their son Malcolm to suicide just over a decade ago.

I've taken 1/5th of a step back from my work at the Black Dog Institute a month ago. Working full-time at Black Dog over the last few years has been ridiculously rewarding and I still love what I do there which made the decision to cut down to four days a week a bit of a tough one. I realised though that I need to make space in my working week to focus on a whole other side to what I want to be doing with my life  – public speaking about mental health.