I retired as an associate professor and former head of a public health department at a major Australian university. For many years, I worked as a welfare, community and pastoral care worker. I am from a rural working class background and spent seven years in the Navy as an advanced electronics technician. I still muck around with computers, especially Unix-like machines. I also worked as a truck driver, warehouseman, fire fighter, editor, and package handler for UPS.
My practical and research work focused on fostering positive approaches to promoting the health and wellbeing of men. I was tired of men being considered as problems to be solved. I advocated for a different understanding. Men might create problems for themselves and others. But, they could and should be enaged as partners in solving those problems. In fact, my partners and I discovered that the problem often lies with the agencies and experts that set out to solve the "problem with men".
In my time, I helped the Men's Sheds Movement get established and grow in Australia. I cofounded and chaired a national health promotion charity for Indigenous males. I also set up and ran a men's counselling service. I still work with folks who walk beside men fostering their own wellbeing, as well as the wellbeing of those with whom they work, live and love. I'll probably do that, one way or another, until I die.