Dad power brings connection to Penrith

What started as a way to help their teenage sons deal with the back-to-back losses of two mates, has become bigger than dads, John Rix and Sean Hogan, ever could have imagined.

The pair’s passion to build mental fitness in their local community has seen them raise more than $500,000 in the past six years to bring Gotcha4Life workshops to thousands of people in the greater Penrith community through sports clubs, schools and work sites.

The story began in 2017. Sean and John’s sons, Ty and James, were playing for the Emu Plains Glenmore Park Junior Aussie Rules Football Club in Sydney’s west when 18-year-old club mate, Kayne, took his life.

Less than a month later, James close schoolmate, 17-year-old Troy, took his life.

Sean and John said enough.

“We vowed this can’t keep happening,” says Sean. “It’s very hard when you look at your son’s eyes and see pain in them and you can’t do anything about it. We wanted to help our kids.”

But what could the dads do?

Sean found the answer on TV. He was watching the first episode of Gotcha4Life founder, Gus Worland’s, Man Up series, when a preview for the second episode showed Tomorrow Man’s, Tom Harkin, talking about workshops for boys.

The dads organised one for their sons and about 20 of their mates.

“They did the workshop and it did change them and for the better,” Sean says. “They were already a solid bunch, but they got to learn a lot about each other and how to talk openly and look after each other. It grew from there.”

It sure did. The dads decided more people needed to benefit from workshops and set out to raise funds and awareness around mental health.

They met with Headspace, Are You OK, Black Dog, Beyond Blue, and a new foundation that had just started - Gotcha4Life.

“We chose Gotcha4Life for two reasons,” Sean says. “First, it’s prevention, and giving people the tools and ability to talk to each other without being in crisis, so it doesn’t get to that point. Plus, we could see where the money goes - into workshops and into the community,” Sean says.

They ran fundraisers through the Penrith Rams, where John was chairman of the Senior, and Sean was Emu Plains Glenmore Park Lions Junior club president at the time.

They renamed a round the ‘Kayne Mcdonagh Cup’ to honour the club mate the boys had lost, with players donning special Gotcha4Life jerseys.

Changing minds and lives

“The Penrith Rams really got behind it. We raised $25,000 that first year just by telling people about it and holding a day of football at Blacktown. But more important than raising money for us, was raising awareness to let these kids know that they had someone to talk to,” John says.

Every year since, John has run fundraising footy days through the Rams and held Gotcha4Life funded Tomorrow Man and Tomorrow Woman workshops for club players and coaches.

The pair have no doubt that the workshops are changing lives.

“Our first grade coach was an old school man’s man who didn’t want the program. He didn’t want the boys to come off the training park to do a mental health program. He’d say ‘What’s that for? It’s rubbish’,” John says.

“We won the flag that year, and he will tell you the workshop was a key reason why. It brought the boys together, including him, with a better understanding of where everyone was in their life. He went from not wanting it at all to asking ‘When can we do the next one?’. That’s just one person we’ve changed. I can guarantee we’ve helped many more lives than that.”

Beyond the Rams

Buoyed by the positive impact, the pair decided to raise more money to put programs deep into the wider community.

Their annual Sportsman’s Day Lunch was born, with the local business community listening to sports stars interviewed by Gus at the Penrith Panthers club. The first year alone raised $80k for Gotcha4Life.

Their community events are built around the theme of the Power of Connection, reflecting the Gotcha4Life message of building connections with those around you, people in your village you can open up to, so no-one worries alone.

“Many positive things have come out of these events. Someone rang John after the Sportsman’s Lunch and said he hadn’t spoken to his dad for a very long time - but he did after the lunch. He called his dad on the way home,” Sean says.

When they held a ‘Blokes Night’ with Gus and Tomorrow Man’s Tom for anyone in the Penrith community, almost 200 people turned up - including Troy’s dad.

“Troy’s father opened up and spoke to the whole group after hearing from Gus and Tom. That was the first time he was able to talk about the son he’d lost. There were many people in that room whose lives changed that day,” Sean says.

In late 2023, they held their first Gotcha4Life Ball, with 600 attendees raising an incredible $130,000.

“We had a broad cross section of the community there. It’s super important to us, because it’s local people helping local people,” Sean says.

Penrith people will give the shirt of their back for a cause to help others. We’re very lucky to have a supportive community. That’s Penrith.”

Building communities of support

The funds raised by the community have been invested back into the community, with workshops in other sports clubs including Emu Plains and Camden, and local schools including Kingswood, Nepean and Jamison high schools, and Xavier College.

Many schools now fund return workshops themselves, freeing up funds to reach into new parts of the community.

The dynamic duo take Gotcha4Life’s mental fitness message to tradies and construction contractors through workshops and events including ‘Tools Down’ talks and barbecues at work sites. Construction firms, Edgewater Homes and Masterton Homes, now fund their programs after seeing the value in events organised by John.

And their sons, now almost 24?

“They and their mates put their hands in their pockets and bought tickets to the Ball. They said they were lucky enough to do these programs when they were younger and want others to benefit too,” John says.

“They are so open in the way they communicate with their peers and I put it down to the fact they’ve learnt how to do it. It’s just second nature to them now.”

Sean adds, “All those young men have learnt how to not bottle up their emotions, how to talk about them and be able to recognise when a mate says ‘I’m ok’, to go ‘Hang on a minute mate, are you really?’ They do it so well.”

“Some of the kids we’re reaching now might not use the tools they’ve been given until they’re older, but we’re getting programs where they’re needed.

“The workshops are making a real difference. We can see it. We know Gotcha4Life and Gus and his passion are changing people’s lives.”