The Brave Man Project - Launch Teaser

This is not a podcast about fixing yourself.

The Brave Man Project is a sanctuary for the modern man caught between the suffocating mask of performance and the silent weight of unaddressed trauma. A dual-lens journey. Mirrors and windows.

The Mirror reflects the lie you've been telling yourself. "I'm alright, mate." Men who were Captain of the Universe, who wore the mask so long they forgot their own face, who loaded bricks onto their backs until the weight became lethal. Then they fell. And they chose to look.

The Window expands your vision. Men who woke up and saw the world in Technicolor. Men who lead others through blue doors. They do not reflect your collapse. They prove you were never broken to begin with.

In this teaser, you'll hear fragments of what's coming. The unvarnished truth about what it actually took.

This is for the man tired of the noise and the bullshit. The man exhausted from carrying a mask. Whether you're currently being kicked by the universe or simply tired of the black-and-white grind.

Five men. Five falls. Five ways through. And two men who will show you the colour.

Launching 15 July.

hamishniven.com/the-brave-man-project

John Milham had the successful life, the family, the script — until his wife's cancer diagnosis tore it up. What followed was grief, single parenthood, and the slow discovery that "I'm alright, mate" was the most expensive lie he'd ever told.

"Life is simple — love, connection, stories, and a little silliness"

"Does anyone even want to hear my story?"

"The world doesn't have a lot of resources for men who are left on their own"

John Milham, host of the Kintsugi Heroes podcast, grew up in an Australian culture where men didn't do feelings. Then his wife's cancer diagnosis shattered the script. In this raw first episode, John shares what grief, single parenthood and losing the life he'd built taught him about vulnerability, community, and why "I'm alright, mate" nearly cost him everything.

What we explore:

• The moment of crisis: a cancer diagnosis, grief, and confronting mortality
• How masculine conditioning shuts down men's emotional expression — and what it costs
• Vulnerability as the doorway to healing, not a weakness to hide
• The power of community, elders and authentic conversation in recovery
• Maslow's pyramid, self-actualisation and the simplicity of a life built on love, connection and a little silliness

Connect with John:

Website: kintsugiheroes.com.au

Instagram: @kintsugi.heroes

LinkedIn: Kintsugi Heroes

YouTube: Kintsugi Heroes

Facebook: facebook.com/kintsugiheroes

I spent 25 years building a life that looked successful from the outside, but within, it was the opposite. Everything was falling apart, and I was throwing fuel on that fire. The joy of life had fallen away. Late November 2018, I had to make a choice: live or die. I chose to live, and everything changed. I had to confront the pain I was carrying, look at the stories, and change. I built The Brave Man Project because there was nothing like this when I needed it.

Podcast website https://thebravemanproject.com/

Hamish's website https://hamishniven.com/

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@TheBraveManProject

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamishniven/

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@hamish.niven

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hamishniven/

Personal Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hamishniven

"I couldn't even say I'm sorry for my behaviour."

"I'm a ticking time bomb, pretty much."

Joe Henderson lives with a mechanical heart valve — every beat an audible reminder of the surgeries that saved him. Add a heart attack at 37, the loss of his best mate, PTSD from police work, and 15 years as a single dad, and you have a man with every reason to break. Instead, he faced the mirror — literally — and changed.

What we explore:

• Rebuilding life after multiple heart surgeries and a stress-driven heart attack at 37
• The weight of grief — losing his best mate — and what it did to his mental health and family
• The mirror exercise: brutal daily self-honesty as the engine of change
• Talking to your children about mental health, and why honesty beats pretending
• Breaking the cycle of toxic masculinity and what fathers model for the next generation

Chapters

00:56 Introduction to Joe Henderson's Journey

01:20 Facing Life-Changing Health Challenges

03:33 The Impact of Loss and Grief

10:40 Navigating Personal and Professional Struggles

17:19 The Turning Point: Realisations and Changes

22:19 Rebuilding Life and Identity

28:30 The Mirror Exercise: Self-Reflection and Growth

35:45 The Journey of Self-Pride

38:13 The Role of Children in Recovery

41:13 Honesty and Vulnerability in Parenting

44:45 Breaking the Cycle of Toxic Masculinity

50:27 The Importance of Male Role Models

55:02 Asking for Help: A Sign of Strength

59:53 Creating Connections in a Disconnected World

Connect with Joe:

Website: joe-betterdad.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/leaddontblame

Facebook: facebook.com/leaddontblame

Instagram: @leaddontblame

I spent 25 years building a life that looked successful from the outside, but within, it was the opposite. Everything was falling apart, and I was throwing fuel on that fire. The joy of life had fallen away. Late November 2018, I had to make a choice: live or die. I chose to live, and everything changed. I had to confront the pain I was carrying, look at the stories, and change. I built The Brave Man Project because there was nothing like this when I needed it.

Podcast website https://thebravemanproject.com/

Hamish's website https://hamishniven.com/

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@TheBraveManProject

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamishniven/

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@hamish.niven

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hamishniven/

Personal Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hamishniven

Al Richards had the career, the house, the marriage, and a weekend cocaine habit that kept everything numb. In 2009 a failed drug test ended his 24-year career and forced him to look in the mirror. What stared back was a liar and a manipulator — and a man who decided to change. He got sober, got fit, and fought for his marriage as his wife fell into alcoholism. They lost the house. She died on the streets last year.

Then his leg turned black. A procedure to fix a hiking injury went wrong, leaving him with "trash foot" — a dying limb and a doctor saying, "You have two hours. We can amputate tomorrow, or you can go home and watch your foot die." Al chose the surgery. He woke up with no leg below the knee — and a freedom he had not expected.

Now 62, living simply in a camping trailer, Al is an Internationally Certified Crisis & Recovery Coach, host of The Other Side of Addiction podcast — "The World's Best Resource for Understanding Addiction on Both Sides" — and founder of Through the Storm. He still greets his reflection every morning with gratitude, feels his "ghost toes" wiggle, and believes the only way through the storm is to walk straight into it — like the bison.

What we explore:

• The identity men build around work, marriage, and material success — and who is left when all of it is stripped away
• The two-hour decision: why Al chose to lose the leg rather than keep dying piece by piece
• The morning mirror ritual that rewires a man's relationship with himself when the world says he should be broken
• Walking into the storm: how the bison became Al's guide for men who refuse to be victims anymore

Connect with Al:

Podcast: The Other Side of Addiction (Apple)

YouTube: The Other Side of Addiction

Instagram: @mralrichards

TikTok: @alrichards780

LinkedIn: Al Richards

Facebook: Al Richards

Tim Freke has spent a lifetime exploring the edge where philosophy meets mysticism. He published 35 books. He built a global following. Then he did something most men never dare: he admitted the central thesis running through 34 of those books no longer held, and he burned it down to start again.

In this conversation, Tim opens a window onto the biggest questions — why are we here, what is consciousness, and what does it mean to become the man you are capable of being? He recalls his first "technicolor" spiritual awakening at age twelve, the long retreats that shaped him while other men were chasing careers, and why he believes the universe isn't something we fell from but something we are growing into.

We talk about the courage to be wrong, the wisdom of stopping when the inner voice says stop, and why a man's real strength isn't domination but self-taming — the ability to reflect before reacting, and to choose a life seen in colour over one sleepwalked in black and white.

Tim is the philosopher behind the Podbook Why Your Life Really Matters, host of The Unividuals Podcast, and founder of the Univigil community. He runs Soul to Soul experiential events from his home in Glastonbury.

What we explore:

• The identity trap of needing to be right, and the courage required to dismantle your own life's work when truth demands it
• Why spiritual awakening isn't escape or weakness — it's choosing to see the world in colour instead of sleepwalking through it
• Taming the instinctual self: not meekness, but the hard-won strength to reflect before reacting
• Soul-to-soul connection as the most radical act a man can offer in a world trained in distraction

Connect with Tim:

Podbook & Podcast: youtube.com/timfreke

Website & Events: timfreke.com

Substack: timfreke.substack.com

Instagram: @timfreke

Facebook: facebook.com/TimFreke

X: @timfreke