For a little more than a year, Joe Tuia’ana has been working hard on the I Love You, Bro project. It’s a big undertaking, helping to take on the crisis of mental health and loneliness for men, which is a rampant problem that too often seems to be getting worse. Men, particularly young men, are lonely because they lack support and networks. As bad as it can be day-to-day, it can be especially difficult when catastrophe strikes. Men are programmed culturally to be “strong and silent,” sometimes refusing to ask for help, even when they need it desperately. These are some of the problems that Tuia’ana is trying to solve.
The I Love You, Bro project launched in late 2023, a year after Tuia’ana had a deeply moving experience where he talked a young man off a ledge when he saw him on a freeway overpass. While he was able to help the man during his crisis, Tuia’ana wanted to find a way to help people before it ever reached that point.
“I just felt like I had to do more,” Tuia’ana said. “People always tell me my experience was such a beautiful story—and it is—but the question that comes after is ‘why did it even have to get that bad?’ ‘why did it even have to get to the overpass?’”
The I Love You, Bro project took a two-pronged approach to helping reach men before they ever hit a breaking point. The first was to have weekly meetings, support groups where men could go and talk and be supportive of one another. What started with one group in November 2023, has grown to five, which Tuia’ana says has left them feeling “Very blessed.”
The second part of what has made I Love You, Bro a success has been their “Let’s Grow, Bro” workshops. These are simple trainings dealing with things like marriage, divorce, finances that men can attend. The classes are meant to build fundamental relationships and skills, allowing men to find strength and help through others so that suicide is never an option.
On Saturday, January 11, the I Love You, Bro project will be hosting Dr. Brandon Henline from Sage Family Counseling to talk about personal wellness. It’s a big topic, especially for men who statistically neglect it, but Henline will be covering coping skills and how to develop a personal self-care plan, as well as how to pursue a purpose, practicing self-reflection, and taking action while exploring aspirational aspects of oneself.
Dr. Henline holds a Ph.D. in marriage and family therapy from Texas Tech University, and has maintained an active clinical practice since 2000. He specializes in working with intensive couple issues, interference of technology in life and relationships, and helping people with realizing their best self in the face of difficult family situations, trauma or other difficulties.
The idea is to help men confront these difficult issues while arming them with the necessary tools to deal with them. The in-person workshops also help to build support. Studies show that the mere act of seeing other people seek help can make it easier to seek out support for oneself.
Tuia’ana says the I Love You, Bro project is committed to building a “strong, united community where all men are comfortably open, more compassionate, and encouraged and enabled to live happier and healthier lives.”
The workshop is free to attend and will be held from 10 to 11:30 a.m at Koru Wellness. More information can be found on the I Love You, Bro project’s website or by emailing joe@iloveyoubroproject.org.
