"The great thing is, as Dustin Tebbutt said in his interview, they are all just normal people, with scars, addictions, and stories to tell, things they’ve had to overcome, and things they’re still working through. So it’s a really unique opportunity to get to hear artists who have a big platform speak really vulnerably about the true stories in their lives."
Will said it was usually difficult to engage young people to give them advice on mental health and issues such as drug and alcohol abuse, but the podcasts cut through to them.
"The brilliance of this project is these messages come through as a story and the person telling the story is someone that young people really look up to," he said.
Libby Ingels, a member of the 'Podsquad' that helped produce Rhyme & Reason, said she had been surprised by how open the star interviewees were in sharing their stories.
"The stuff they talk about is very personal," she said, "so you sort of expect them to hold back a bit but everyone was very willing to share their story and it was so incredible to hear things like the Bliss n Esso podcast and Esso’s experience – you’d never guess that he’d had to overcome the things he has."
Libby said that working with the MMAD crew on the podcasts had been a great experience.
"I think MMAD is a really amazing organisation backed by a great group of people that really come together to support young people like myself who have seen adversity or are just looking for a sense of community," she said. "The podcast has been a really great opportunity to be a part of something bigger than myself, and just to be alongside for the journey has been really great."
Charitable Foundation Chair Phil Neat said MMAD’s work had significant, positive outcomes for young people and that they foundation was a proud supporter.
"The Rhyme & Reason podcast series was granted just under $50,000 and that brings the total for four MMAD projects we’ve funded to almost $190,000," he said. "We really feel that these podcasts add great value to MMAD’s prior projects by taking their work outside of their physical location here in Gosford to give young people all over the world the opportunity to be inspired by these interviews."