Gavin Larkin
Founder of R U OK?
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Search complete. 5 mentions across 5 episodes found for "Gavin Larkin".
Sep 10, 2026
Josh RevensHOST
So why is a day like R U OK? Why does it exist, R U OK Day?
Gary SimmonsGUEST
Well, the founder, Gavin Larkin, He was just an everyday bloke who was in marketing.
Gary SimmonsGUEST
And he had lost his dad a few years earlier to suicide.
Gary SimmonsGUEST
And he just started thinking, well, let's just check in with my mates.
ColletteHOST
So it started back in 2009, so it's been going for quite a while now.
ColletteHOST
And it was started by a guy by the name of Gavin Larkin who lost his father, Barry, to suicide in 1995.
ColletteHOST
And because of his deep grief and wish that he'd asked his father more if he was doing okay, he started the R U OK? campaign to encourage people to connect with others and have meaningful conversations about mental health.
ColletteHOST
So, you know, this has been a conversation that's been going on for quite a number of years.
Julie-Anne RickfordGUEST
R U OK? was born from lived experience.
Julie-Anne RickfordGUEST
So Gavin Larkin lost his father to suicide and the effect that that had and the impact that had on him and his family and then as he had his own children, he also suffered some dark places and always felt that Why couldn't his father have reached out or why couldn't somebody have seen what was happening? And the fact is that we all go through life's ups and downs.
Julie-Anne RickfordGUEST
My background is hospitality and training.
Julie-Anne RickfordGUEST
And it was back in 2018, I was training a group, a hospitality group, the Maryvale group.
Barry DuboisGUEST
I'm incredibly proud that I believe that there's so many conversations about men's mental health, particularly in this country at the moment.
Barry DuboisGUEST
And I'm very proud of Gavin Larkin, who has passed away since then.
Barry DuboisGUEST
But I'm very proud that the DNA and the message of R U OK? Day is in every mental health conversation we have.
Barry DuboisGUEST
And I like to think I was one of the people that promoted that early on.
Graeme CowanGUEST
And through that, I was asked to speak at a Lifeline conference.
Graeme CowanGUEST
And then somehow Gavin Larkin, the founder of R U OK? heard about that talk and invited me to become involved.
Graeme CowanGUEST
And as soon as I saw the aim of it and the really fantastic vision that a conversation could change a life.
Graeme CowanGUEST
I just knew it was 100% right through my own experience.