21st November 2023

Interview: Bradley Patten of UpPsycle

Bradley Patten has been a supporter of our mahi at Just a Thought for a while, taking his motorbike around Tāmaki Makaurau to share mental health resources (including our brochures)! We thought it was high time we had a chat with Bradley about the work he is doing, mental health, and the best dance moves to do in a bike helmet - read on below!

Introduce yourself – tell us a bit about the mahi you do with UpPsycle.

UpPsycle is a place where I blend mental health and motorcycle content in my spare time. Content tends to ramp up from April-May, as I get involved with The Distinguished Gentleman's Ride (DGR) as part of the Every Sunday Motorcycle Collective (ESMC).

Outside of UpPsycle, I'm working on a Bullying, Discrimination, and Harassment reporting system that has been used in clinical training environments from UoA medical students since 2019. We're currently looking to expand it to other settings.

While I have a PhD in Psychology, I often tell people it's 'not the useful kind' as I'm a researcher, not a clinician. I can help you find resources, but I can't be your psychologist / counsellor.

What made you get in to mental health promotion?

When I first saw the suicide stats split into male:female, I didn't believe it was 3:1. After being involved in psychology research where we'd obsess over whether there were millisecond differences in reacting to things we showed you on a computer screen, the fact that this statistic had never come up on my path to my PhD was mind blowing.

As any good nerd, I checked our local stats at the source and found out it was true, 3 of every 4 deaths by suicide are males. For me, the DGR was the perfect storm of the right cause, at the right time (2020), in the right time (motorbikes and suits? I'm in!). The DGR raises funds for the Movember Foundation, who include addressing male suicide as a core focus.

My first ride / fundraising campaign was in 2020, and it blew my expectations. I was aiming to maybe raise $200, and ended up raising $2k. While the plan was always to share some resources as part of the campaign, the success of that fundraising created a feeling of needing to justify the support I was receiving, which led to me really doubling down on not only raising funds, but raising awareness of what's available to help people right now. Since that first ride, I've raised over $10k for Movember through the DGR and found great support through ESMC.

What do you see as the biggest barriers to men accessing mental health tools?

I'd direct you to Zac Seidler for an informed answer on that one. As for my own reckons, I think knowing what tools are out there, how to access them, and what you can expect from them is the first challenge. After that, the notion of needing to address problems yourself, and/or that others won't care, won't be able to help, or will see you as a burden probably comes into it.

Additionally, tools themselves can become a barrier. In cases where men do access tools but they're not be a good fit, it can lead to reduced engagement with tools in the short and longer term (see Zac's "Once bitten, twice shy" article). I think these are tricky problems to address, and are problems that men should not be blamed for or expected to solve alone. Zac and Movember are working to address this.

Where did you learn all your excellent dance moves?

I guess I've 'learnt on the job.' I mostly do whatever feels like it hits the beat, is safe to perform on the bike, and is big enough to see from the car behind me. It doesn't seem to raise much money, but it generates a few smiles. That's good enough for me.

Check out Bradley on Instagram here - instagram.com/uppsycle/