Gympie agent Dan Vanderhoek takes on fitness challenge to push for better mental health care

‘This is something that really needs your support’: Gympie Century 21 agent Dan Vanderhoek takes on a push up fitness challenge to raise money for better mental health care in Australia.

Dan Vanderhoek from Century 21 is taking on the push up challenge to raise money for mental health care services like Headspace and Lifeline.

Gympie Century 21 agent Dan Vanderhoek has taken on the Push-Up Challenge to raise money for an issue he is personally passionate about: better mental health care.

Mr Vanderhoek said the challenge was to complete 3318 push ups between June 1-25, as this was how many people took their lives in 2019 in Australia.

“Basically what we're doing is raising money for head space and lifeline to continue to help provide support for people facing difficult times,” Mr Vanderhoek said.

Dan Vanderhoek takes on suicide prevention challenge.

“It's one of those things were there are organisations out there who are there to provide support and help but they do struggle with just the sheer numbers.

“The problem is sometimes there are more callers than there are people able to answer... so some people do slip through the cracks.”

Mr Vanderhoek said while he had not directly been affected by suicide, he had been on the support end and seen others go through a difficult time.

“I have had family that have been in that position where it was a serious consideration for them,” he said.

“I haven’t had anyone follow through on those plans so I do count myself very lucky, but it's not about me, it's about trying to help people who are struggling.”

Jump on and whack in a donation and help Nicholas Stephenson Sam George LeCarpentier Regan Downes and I hit our goal to support people who are struggling!

Posted by Dan Vanderhoek on Monday, May 31, 2021

The “hippie” agent, who also runs a podcast called Eco Convos, said mental health was an important issue for him and something he would always fight for.

“We’ve got to the point where the awareness that people are struggling is certainly there,” he said.

“(The challenge) is getting it out there and putting it in their faces and saying look this is something that really needs your support and help.”

Mr Vanderhoek told The Gympie Times fitness had never been one of his strong points and the challenge would be just that - a big challenge.

“What they have been able to do is that if you can‘t do all the push ups you can do squats or pull ups or anything along those lines to be able to meet the target,” he said.

“I’ve been on a pretty big fitness journey over the last six months so this was a perfect opportunity to be able to help out but also give myself the push to really get moving.”

To donate you can head to the website, or sponsor Mr Vanderhoek directly HERE.

Originally published as Gympie agent Dan Vanderhoek takes on fitness challenge to push for better mental health care