Your trusted partner in mental health training
Empowering workplaces by building capability and confidence
Who we are
Mental Mate is an Australian workplace-mental-health training company built on the lived experience of our founder, Jodi Brown. After years of silently battling depression and addiction while outwardly “succeeding,” Jodi discovered that honest conversations and practical skills can transform lives—and save them.
Today, we turn that hard-won insight into micro-credentials, workshops, and advisory support that help leaders, HR teams, and frontline workers create psychologically safe, legally compliant, and genuinely caring workplaces—especially in high-pressure sectors such as construction, mining, healthcare, and small business.
Our mission is simple: equip everyday people to start the right conversation at the right time, so colleagues feel supported, organisations thrive, and suicide is no longer Australia’s leading killer of 14- to 45-year-olds.
(Scroll down for Jodi’s full story and the journey that powers everything we do.)
What our clients and participants say
Led by industry experts
Forged from my own battle with hidden depression, addiction, and the life-changing discipline of boxing, Mental Mate turns lived experience into practical, compliance-ready training. I’m Jodi Brown—mental-health champion —leading a hand-picked crew of professionals who channel their real-world lessons into programs that build mentally healthy, high-performing workplaces.
Jodi Brown
Founder and CEO of Mental Mate
From the outside, Jodi Brown appeared to have it all: successful businesses, a beautiful family and an enviable life on the Gold Coast.
What people couldn’t see was how hard he was working just to hold everything together.
Behind closed doors, Jodi was living with depression and anxiety that had not yet been recognised or diagnosed. He was using cannabis, prescription medication and alcohol to cope.
“I believed you could think your way out of anything. You just had to be positive, toughen up and keep going.”
Rather than reaching out for professional support, Jodi relied on substances to numb what he was feeling. They offered short-term relief, but eventually made his life and mental health harder to manage.
It was a coping strategy he had seen growing up.
Jodi’s father lived with alcohol dependence following significant loss and trauma. His first wife and mother had both died by suicide, and there were times when Jodi feared his father might also take his own life.
“When Dad had been drinking, his behaviour could change. I learned to read the room constantly: how many drinks he’d had, what mood he was in and what I could say without things escalating.”
Jodi moved in with his father at 15. With little structure or guidance, he left school during Year 11. By 19, he was a new father preparing to get married.
His father, who was living with advanced cancer, died four weeks after finally seeking medical help, just one week before Jodi’s wedding and before meeting his granddaughter.
Jodi worked hard to provide for his young family. He gained qualifications, built a career in IT and eventually started his own businesses. Beneath that progress, however, were years of instability, loss and experiences he did not yet have the tools to process.
His first wife experienced periods of significant mental ill-health and was diagnosed with what was then called manic depression, now known as bipolar disorder.
“There were weeks when she couldn’t get out of bed. I didn’t understand what was happening or how to support her. Looking back, I can see how misguided I was.”
The couple separated in 2002. What followed was more than a decade of upheaval, including another relationship breakdown, raising two more children, custody disputes, emotional abuse and a steady decline in Jodi’s mental health.
Yet to the outside world, he appeared to be thriving. Jodi was running two businesses, serving as president of a networking group and building a reputation as someone who got things done.
Inside, he was struggling.
“I started using cannabis heavily in 2012 to escape what was happening. Over time, that progressed to cocaine and ecstasy, alongside heavy drinking.
“Because of the stigma, I became very good at hiding it. To most people, I looked successful and in control. It took eight years before I finally reached out for professional help.”
The conversation that changed everything
In 2014, a chance meeting at a networking event changed the direction of Jodi’s life.
A visitor spoke about a boxing program in which men trained for ten weeks before stepping into the ring for a real fight. Jodi signed up and was soon training six days a week.
The physical challenge mattered, but the relationships had an even greater impact. Jodi found himself surrounded by men who were willing to talk openly, show vulnerability and support one another.
One man Jodi respected shared his experience of depression and how professional support and antidepressant medication had helped him.
“I had always been against antidepressants. I felt embarrassed and ashamed about needing help. Then someone I respected spoke openly about his experience without shame. That conversation cracked something open for me.”
Jodi made an appointment with his GP and burst into tears. He was diagnosed with clinical depression and severe anxiety, referred to a psychologist and began taking antidepressant medication.
“Psychological support helped me understand what was happening and work through things I had carried for years. About a month in, I started to feel lighter. I had a sense of purpose again.”
Around the same time, Jodi’s eldest daughter returned to his life at 14 and asked to live with him. Having her home gave him another powerful reason to keep moving forward.
Recovery was not one sudden breakthrough. It came through connection, purpose, professional support, appropriate treatment and people who made it safe for Jodi to be honest.
Turning lived experience into action
In 2018, Jodi met his now-wife, Nicole, a former police officer who lives with work-related post-traumatic stress disorder and was medically retired in 2025.
Supporting Nicole gave Jodi another perspective on how workplaces respond to trauma and mental ill-health. He saw the harm caused when people were met with stigma, judgement or a lack of understanding.
Jodi began speaking with mental health charity LIVIN, sharing his story in schools, mine sites and corporate workplaces. These presentations demonstrated the power of lived experience, but they also revealed a gap.
“A one-hour presentation can start an important conversation, but I wanted to help workplaces turn awareness into action.”
That became the foundation for Mental Mate.
Mental Mate provides lived-experience-led workplace mental health education and psychosocial risk training. Through keynotes, workshops and microcredentials, Jodi helps organisations create environments where people feel safe to speak up and leaders feel confident responding.
“My story helps people connect, but the story is only the beginning. The goal is to give people practical tools to notice changes, start a safe conversation and connect someone with the right support.”
Supporting brighter futures
Jodi also brings this experience to his role as Community Engagement Leader with Inspiring Brighter Futures Foundation.
IBFF supports young people through school-based mentoring, pre-employment initiatives and programs that strengthen wellbeing, confidence, resilience, belonging and readiness for the future.
Jodi helps recruit, screen, prepare and support volunteer mentors. His role includes onboarding, safeguarding education, training, program placement and working alongside facilitators, schools, employment partners and community stakeholders.
He also facilitates IBFF’s Onwards & Upwards program and has provided wraparound and one-on-one mentoring for young people and apprentices facing barriers to education or employment.
“My work with IBFF is about building safe systems around supportive conversations. Mentors aren’t there to be counsellors. They provide consistency, encouragement and connection, while knowing when and how to raise a concern.”
His work across IBFF, LIVIN and Mental Mate allows Jodi to support mental health conversations at different stages of life, from young people preparing for their future to employees, managers and business owners navigating demanding workplaces.
Creating mentally healthy workplaces
Mental Mate works with organisations of all sizes, particularly in industries such as mining, construction, infrastructure, healthcare and professional services.
Jodi is clear that supporting mental health at work does not mean turning managers into counsellors.
“It means creating a workplace where people are treated with care and respect, where changes are noticed and leaders know how to start a safe conversation and connect someone with appropriate support.”
For Jodi, this work remains deeply personal.
“My vision is to help create mentally healthy workplaces and communities and contribute to reducing suicide in Australia.
“I want workplaces where people can thrive, managers know what to say when someone doesn’t seem themselves and people feel safe enough to put their hand up before reaching crisis point.
“When workplaces get this right, people are more engaged, absenteeism can decrease and organisations perform better.
“But most importantly, the right conversation, with the right person, at the right time, can change the direction of someone’s life.
“I know that because it changed mine.”
Organisations we’ve worked with
Build a safer, mentally healthier workplace
Mental Mate’s training programs are built on years of experience in workplace mental health and compliance. Led by Jodi Brown, CEO and Founder, our team includes skilled facilitators who share a passion for improving workplace well-being.
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