2026 ACT Local Hero Ben Alexander

Australian Community Media

Well known in Canberra for his rugby career with the Brumbies and Wallabies, since retiring, Ben Alexander has turned his focus to mental health, co-founding Running for Resilience (R4R) with Matt Breen to help make Canberra suicide-free by 2033.

Transcript

00:00For a long time I struggled with my mental health. It started probably halfway during my rugby career

00:09when I lost a really tough game. Got sent off in the biggest match of my life against the British

00:14and Irish Lions. I felt I let my country down. I didn't talk to anyone about it. I just thought

00:20it was my cross to bear and I just had to suck it up and get on with it. And it wasn't until a few

00:24years later when a teammate who'd retired earlier by the name of Dan Vickerman took his own life.

00:30That was a real wake-up call for me to try and get on top of my mental health while I was playing.

00:35And I thought I did, but when the time came to retire I still struggled and still got super depressed.

00:43And yeah, I was really struggling, but doing park run every Saturday and then going for coffee with

00:47my mates after was an absolute life's end. So Running for Resilience started when my

00:54pub The Dock at Kingston Foreshaw got an email from a young guy, Matt Breen, who'd lost his

01:00dad to suicide and his mum had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer. And he wanted to do something

01:05for mental health. And the reason why he emailed my pub was because he'd read something that I'd

01:10written, a thank you blog to parkrun, how it really helped me, my transition out of professional

01:17sport. So he'd read that and he thought, yeah, he might ask The Dock if they'd host a one-off

01:22event, which we said, yeah, no worries, we'll shout everyone beer and pizza. And thinking

01:27it was a one-off thing, 20 people came, we did the run. And now, yeah, fast forward six

01:32years, we now get up to a thousand people a week across 15 events as we've partnered with

01:36other pubs, cafes, universities, schools, workplaces to help create events that bring people together

01:43through exercise with the goal of a suicide-free Canberra. The highlights are the messages that

01:50we get, people saying, thank you, this helped save my life. I came just to get fit and active,

01:56but I actually stay. And it's the community and the friendships that's really made the difference.

02:00And that, yeah, we've created an environment where people feel they can be themselves and

02:06they won't be judged. Big thing that I've learnt through running for resilience that we will

02:10all go through tough patches in life. It is normal. It is a part where career transitions,

02:16we'll lose parents, we'll lose loved ones. We all have really hard things happen to us

02:21in life. And there's absolutely no shame in that. Struggling from those really tough experiences

02:27is normal. And you do not have to go through it alone.

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