“To pretend that we didn’t know people were burning out, becoming dysfunctional and most likely that was collectively happening across the Command – was at the best naive and at the worst it was intentional neglect.”
Mark is a registered Psychologist and over the past 20 years has worked in some of the strangest, harshest and least ‘clinical’ environments on the globe. This includes working as a former SAS regimental psychologist who deployed to Afghanistan six times and now founder of ‘Psyched Up’ – an industry psychology leader supporting individuals, organisations and communities in extreme environments. This includes working as the psychologist on set on reality TV shows such as Survivor and SAS: Who Dares Wins.
This conversation is an inside look into the minds of combat soldiers. Mark discusses how war can fundamentally change a human. Moreso how repeated combat can impact one’s moral fabric and lead to a challenging transition when a veteran returns home from deployment.
Not exclusively we discuss:
- the value of listening to our returning warriors
- the consequence of a lack of purpose and clear strategy
- The stigma of mental health in the military
- Moral injury & the impact of heavy deployment
- Rights of passages across the military and reality TV world.
Other areas of Mark’s work include:
- Debriefing wintering expeditioners for the Australian Antarctic program.
- Designing and implemented local recruitment and induction programs in Papua New Guinea for oil companied.
- Establishing culture change programs.
- Assessing and recruited indigenous youth into mining jobs in North Western Australia.
- Managed cast and crew of reality TV shows (where we first met!)
You can follow Mark on instagram @markmathieson_psychologist & www.psychedup.com.au
