'He thought he was a burden': Gold Coast man's mission after losing his best friend to suicide

Gold Coast local Casey Lyons lost his best friend Dwayne Lally to suicide in 2013.

Dwayne was just 25, and Casey was one of very few people who knew of his battle, having watched him suffer in silence from his late teens.

"I'm currently looking at a few photos of him and I remember him the same way, the person that was the lover of life, cheeky, and he was loyal," Casey told nine.com.au.

"He was the person that was always going out of his way to make sure other people were having a great time."

The pair met in Year 1, and despite being placed in separate classes by Year 3, they maintained their friendship, including playing rugby together. Rounding out their unique friendship group was Sam Webb.

It was during his late teenage years that Casey said Dwayne began struggling with mental ill health.

"Dwayne and I were close and we shared everything, so I was aware of it quite early," he said.

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"Some of his other close friends and his mum, his whole family were aware of it."

Dwayne would ultimately lose his battle when he was 25.

"I still get emotional now. It'll be 13 years in September," Casey said.

"I reflect on Dwayne's journey and some of the conversations we had, and without going into detail, he thought he was a burden and he thought the world would be a better place without him.

"And oftentimes, these were his words. He thought that he was a weirdo."

Looking back, Casey feels early mental health education may have helped his friend understand there were a lot of people like him battling with mental ill health and feeling like they don't fit in, and to know he wasn't alone.

"We certainly did physical education, a little bit of sex education, but never any talk about mental health education, which is why we started LIVIN."

Casey and Sam joined forces to launch LIVIN in 2013 following the loss of their friend. They wanted to encourage others to speak up about mental ill health, having seen Dwayne suffer in silence.

"I visited Dwayne in the hospital and it was pretty much a gravitational pull at that stage, because we just wanted to stop people feeling like Dwayne and from joining Dwayne in some of the circumstances," Casey recalled.

"It originally started out as a clothing company raising money. That quickly turned into donating money to the local Headspace, they do tremendous work.

"But we also knew there was still a gap when people weren't accessing Headspace through a lack of education."

Casey said the unique problems treating male mental health remain the same.

"We can't be seen to show our emotions or to be soft. It's not a personality trait, but it's more of a script we've been handed down from generations," Casey said.

"That fearing of looking weak in front of your mates or your partner or your boss.

"Then another piece of that is we can be quite emotionally unintelligent. We call it stress, a bad week or being flat, but we don't have the language because no one taught us how to use it.

"That's exactly what we started doing at LIVIN, saying, 'It ain't weak to speak.'"

LIVIN's long-term goal is to see a future where suicide is no longer one of the leading killers of young Australians.

More than a decade on, that message has grown far beyond its beginnings, with LIVIN now working in schools, workplaces and communities across the country.

For anyone who finds themselves feeling like all hope is lost, Casey urges them to "pause in that moment of unrest and try and put some distance in between your stimulus and your reaction".

"Take some deep breaths and try and calm down and give yourself long enough to just get through that moment."

Right now, Casey is walking 9000 steps every day in May head of Male Mental Health Month in June. The 9000 steps represent the nine Australian lives lost to suicide every day, of which seven are males. The initiative raised more than $45,000 in its first week.

June is Male Mental Health Month 2026. Find out more by visiting the LIVIN website.

If you or someone you know is in need of support contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Mensline Australia on 1300 78 99 78.