Dan Allen is a former carpenter by trade spending 11 years in the residential construction industry across NSW and QLD. After a losing a close mate to suicide in 2015, Dan along with his mature age apprentice at the time, Ed Ross, decided that something has to be done at a grass roots level to change the tone of the conversation. The two lads created TradeMutt - a social enterprise workwear brand creating funky, eye-catching garments designed to start conversations about mental health among tradies at a peer to peer level while helping to drive the much needed social and cultural shift in attitude towards mental health. Continuing their work, boys also created their own non-profit mental health support service TIACS (This Is A Conversation Starter). TIACS provides early to mid intervention mental health support to tradies, truckies, rural and blue collar workers and their loved ones right around Australia. With 50% of TradeMutt profits contributed to TIACS and a suite of industry related businesses joining the TIACS Alliance, this innovative approach to mental health is changing the game and starting plenty of positive conversations within our industry and beyond.