Good Man group reaches out to young men

Founding members of the Good Man Group l-r Clem Orcher, Andrew Orcher, Robert Young, Chris Kirby, Bradley Orcher, Bradley Gordon, Edward Simpson. Photo supplied

A group of Brewarrina men is reaching out to boys in the community who may be struggling with addiction, mental health, or domestic violence.

The Good Man Group is a voluntary organisation and Clem Orcher, one of the founders, said it was set up in response to a growing number of suicides and addictions among his friends.

“We’re slowly in the process of building the organisation,” he said.

“It’s about trying to keep all the men good at a time when drugs and domestic violence and suicide deaths out here in the west are increasing.

“I lived in Bathurst away from Brewarrina for about five years and every time I came home, I’d see one of my mates or my brothers either on drugs or we’d be burying him.

“I was getting depressed and the only thing that kept me out of it was two good friends who kept coming around home and having a yarn.

“Not only did it make me feel good, it made them feel good too,” he said.

The support stepped up in the winter of 2019, when the group started sitting around a fire in the backyard.

“Another bloke would come along, and then another, so we took it down to the river,” he said.

“It’s what we’ve been doing for thousands of years. As warriors, for 80,000 years we settled our troubles by going to the riverbank, sitting around a fire, and talking our problems out.

Read more local news in the printed edition of The Western Herald.

To subscribe call (02) 6872 2333 today and receive The Western Herald in your letterbox next week!