Robert Smith from The Cure shares mental health campaign video starring Jimmy Breslin

A northern beaches teenager is starring in a national campaign to get boys to challenge the view that men have to put on a brave face. His efforts have been recognised by a UK singer.

A northern beaches teenager is starring in a national mental health campaign called Boys Do Cry.

Jimmy Breslin, who goes to St Augustine’s in Brookvale, is also a talented singer and musician.

In the campaign video he sings, along with others, The Cure’s iconic song ‘Boys Don’t Cry’, with the lyrics changed to Boys Do Cry.

It’s even caught the eye of band’s singer Robert Smith who has shared it on his Twitter feed.

The campaign aims to challenge the view that men should always put on a brave front.

Jimmy, 17, of Manly, admits that he can’t remember the last time he cried.

“I think boys kind of tend to keep to themselves a bit more,” he said.

“Like they have a lot of banter and stuff, but when it comes to the important like big questions, they don’t really get asked.”

Jimmy said when his friend’s mum passed away he saw it was tough for his mate.

“Going to the funeral and seeing how broken he was, was just sad,” he said.

“But we never really talked about it.

“None of the boys really wanted to ask him about it.

The Boys Do Cry campaign video was tweeted by The Cure's singer Robert Smith.

“We tried to keep everything normal which maybe wasn’t the best thing.”

He said the last time his father cried was when he found out Jimmy’s mum had cancer, but he didn’t cry himself, he just “dealt with it”.

“I think what’s important about this video is to get rid of the stigma that men have to be strong all the time and they don’t cry,” he said. “They don’t show emotion.

“I can’t even remember the last time I cried. I just don’t really cry.

“I think what will change the suicide rate and mental health like depression and stuff would be to educate boys a lot more that it’s okay to talk about things with your mates or your parents or teachers.

“It’s not weak to get help.”

The video was produced in partnership with The University of Melbourne’s Centre for Mental Health, mental fitness foundation Gotcha4Life, Heiress Films, the team behind the Gus Worland-hosted ABC TV series Man Up, and advertising agency The Hallway.

Shocking statistics reveal that seven men take their own lives every day, making suicide the leading cause of death in Australian males aged 15 to 49.

Worland, radio personality and keen mental health advocate who also lives on the beaches, said the campaign features videos, posters, outdoor advertising, radio ads and a campaign website.

“Men generally wanted to deal with stuff themselves,” he said.

“It’s a difficult thing to unlearn that. But that’s why we’ve got this problem. My goal is to get Aussie men more mentally fit and keep it as simple as possible.”

A team from the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Mental Health led by Professor Jane Pirkis and Dr Angela Nicholas have run a research program on the video with a control group of men, looking at whether it influences men’s likelihood of reaching out for help if they are facing tough times.

“We know that 75 per cent of all suicides are by males, and that one of the things that may be influencing this is the pressure society places on boys and men to be self-reliant and solve problems by themselves,” Professor Pirkis said.

“Our work is challenging some of these traditional masculine norms and looking at whether this may help to bring down the male suicide rate.”