Sometimes it does take a village, or in the case of Warrimoo, a street.
Several dads from Torwood Street have banded together to train for an arduous four-day, 153 km kayak paddle along the Macquarie River to raise money and awareness of the black dog - depression.
And when they start the event this Thursday, they will have one person in mind, 19-year-old Clair Settree.
Three years ago, when she was 16, she tried to take her own life. The street got behind the family, rallying with home-made dinners, conversations and general support.
"It's humbling that they are doing this to break down the stigma," Miss Settree said.
"The last two-and-a-half years have been intense, being in and out of hospital. I've been on medication and seeing a psychologist since 2009, six years. The doctors just put it down to the chemical imbalance, there were no external triggers. I was healthy and well."
Now the men of Torwood want to make a very public statement about mental illness and the effect it can have on families.
"This is for her and people like her," her Dad, Lindsay Settree, told the Gazette before leaving on the trip with neighbours Bill Joannou, Vince Spisso and the Settre’s 22-year-old son Toby.
"We're a close group of neighbours, it's just really about supporting Lindsay and [wife] Nikki anything we can do for them, a hot meal or conversation, said Bill Joannou. "The way they've kept it together has been amazing."
"It's been a great journey for us, we've got to know each other a lot better," added Vince Spisso, who has been the chief trainer.
While another three Torwood men have been part of the training regime - regularly doing the 36km seven-hour return trip to Warragamba wall starting at the Nepean River boat ramp - not all have been able to get the time off for the event.
The event WOMDOMNOM stands for Wellington on Macquarie, Dubbo on Macquarie, Narromine on Macquarie and has 104 starters this year.
"We paddle from Wellington to Narromine. It's very tiring. We've really built up and four days will be a real effort but we're determined to raise funds for the Black Dog Institute and research."
Miss Settree said having battled the worse of it, and on medication to survive the biggest lows, she's keen to change people's perceptions of mental illness.
"You still see people dress up at Halloween like mentally ill patients, they make it out as if it is almost criminal," Miss Settree, who works part-time at Action Paintball at Yarramundi, said.
"Mental illness, like bipolar, schizophrenia ... it is very confronting. We need more research into all mental illnesses and support [and people] being less judgmental."
Lindsay, who used to be an accountant but now drives trucks for a living, said his next battle was to get more funding for adolescent mental health beds in the public system and to save more children from ending up in "very bad places".
"Listen to your kids and accept what you are hearing is truth."
To support the group go to Lindsay's website: womdomnom2015.everydayhero.com/au/lindsay
