Page 56 - Print21 July-August 2022

Well-being
Mental
strength
A year ago Steven Gamble moved on from his role as Boettcher’s national sales manager to work full time for mental health group Man Anchor. Print21 editor Wayne Robinson caught up with him for an update on progress so far.
Less than a decade ago mental health was a taboo subject. Not discussed
in public, or even private outside of professional
circles, not acknowledged, and not understood, especially by men.
Yet today society has a completely different approach. Mental health is now openly talked about; in the boardroom, in the canteen, in the sports sheds, around the barbecue.
But before the new period of glasnost around mental health had begun, print industry figure Steven Gamble began his journey into mental health advocacy. He was looking to educate himself to help support family members, and found there was not a lot of education around; he mostly had to work through the internet in order to gain understanding of mental health issues.
Gamble had spent his working life
in print, doing his apprenticeship as
an offset printer at Lakes Print on the NSW Central Coast, then working at printers in the UK – mainly to support his winter snowboarding adventures in the Swiss Alps – before returning to Australia to print here. He then started work on the supply side for blanket and consumables supplier Böttcher, ultimately becoming national sales manager during a 16 year stint, which saw him visit virtually every offset printer in the country.
He said, “When I became aware
of my need to support people close to me I realised I did not have the tools I needed, and they weren’t easy to find, but I was determined to gain an understanding of what was happening to people close to me and how I could be of help to them.”
Gamble’s research eventually led a friend in the NSW police force to
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ask him to prepare a mental health workshop for a police conference, which he did, but he baulked at doing the presentation. He says, “Speaking straight up to 400 coppers was a step too far.” However, he did take the workshop and tweak it for general consumption, and then ran it himself. The first workshop, though just two people turned up, his barber and a mate. Nonetheless Gamble
was not perturbed, he says, “They actually said it was very helpful.”
“I was determined to gain an understanding of what was happening to people close to me and how I could be of help to them.” – Steven Gamble
While combining his work at Man Anchor with his role at Böttcher Gamble says he had nothing but support from company CEO Mitch Mulligan, and from the Böttcher directors in Germany, who still support him. It was this time last year, though, that Gamble decided the need and the response was
so great that he would be better dedicating himself full-time to
Man Anchor, so he made the move, effecting what was essentially a major career change in mid-life.
He says, “I loved my job, I loved my company, and I loved my customers. But I felt that I could offer a lot if I went full time with Man Anchor. It also meant saying goodbye to the end of year bonus, but the bigger reward comes in the feedback I get. Just last Sunday evening I got a call out of the blue from someone who had been to one of my workshops, who said for the first time he could finally be the person he wanted to be. That’s gold, and makes it all worthwhile.”
As the second year in the role beckons Gamble is in expansion mode. The name of the organisation will change to Anchor Health Group to reflect a broader approach, former IVE staffer Ash Wilson is already on board to look after community and corporate partnerships, there will
be counselling and support groups, and group and one to one coaching in resilience. Gamble says, “We are taking a more holistic approach.”
Embarking on a completely new direction in life isn’t without its challenges, but a year on from
his move Gamble says, “I am so fortunate to work in an area I am so passionate about.” All of us, in print and outside, are certainly benefitting from his passion. 21
Above
Health is health: Steven Gamble (right) with Print21 editor Wayne Robinson outside the Man Anchor centre
That was five years ago and since then Gamble has presented to 45,000 people, including many in the print industry, where companies such as IVE, BJ Ball, Rawson Print Co, and Currie Group have welcomed his
input, as have the Women in Print association. Gamble says, “Print has some tremendous leaders, people like Matt Aitken at IVE, who recognise that mental health needs nutrition just as physical health does, who have brought it out of the closet, and enabled me to come in and run workshops on how
to manage it, how to recognise when someone is struggling, how to reach out to them, and how to apply mental health first aid.”
The stats around metal health
are eye opening, with one in five Australians experiencing mental health issues at some point in their lives, issues which in many cases can go unnoticed and unresolved for years, leading to loss of motivation, loss of productivity, isolation and worse.