Will Austin
Choosing presence, connection and intention — and helping other fathers do the same.
Looking back to move forward.
For Will Austin, being a good father starts with looking back — at what you had, what you didn’t have, and the experiences that shaped you long before you became a dad yourself.
Raised by a single mum, Will had many important people in his life who helped shape the man and father he is today. His biological dad was part of that story too, and Will holds onto memories and moments with him that he treasures.
As an adult and a father himself, Will has become increasingly aware of how our upbringing can influence the way we parent — and the opportunity every dad has to make conscious choices about what they carry forward.
For Will, it comes back to awareness, intention and deciding how you want to show up for your children.
“The moments that seem insignificant to us can become the biggest memories for our kids.”
Meet Will Austin
Through the combination of Will's work leading three social impact organisations, raising his three children and supporting men and fathers, his impact reaches far and wide.
Awareness. Consciousness. Intention.
For Will, breaking cycles isn’t about blaming the generations that came before us. It begins with understanding what we carry — and making a conscious decision about what we pass on.
“We all carry a bit of pain that we didn’t ask for and didn’t deserve. But if we don’t accept responsibility for it, it will continue to the next generation. Be the one to stand up and say, ‘This ends with me.’”
Those experiences can sit deep within us. Often, Will says, it isn’t until we become parents ourselves that they begin to reveal themselves. That awareness gives fathers an opportunity to make intentional choices about the type of dad they want to be today.
Will has taken that understanding beyond his own family. Through Yarn Bark, he works with Aboriginal men in prison, supporting conversations around culture, identity, healing and the experiences that can shape men across generations.
That same thinking carries into Modern Dad, bringing together Will’s lived and professional experience at the intersection of fatherhood, mental health and wellbeing. It’s about helping dads move beyond simply wanting to do things differently, and giving them greater awareness of how they can show up with intention for their children.
Supporting men before they reach crisis.
Mental health has been part of Will’s world since he was young. After losing a cousin to suicide and witnessing the impact suicide can have across families and communities, Will founded Turn To Me in 2022 — a health promotion and suicide prevention charity built around the role everyday Australians can play in mental health.
Today, he is particularly passionate about the intersection between fatherhood, mental health and wellbeing.
Every father is on his own journey. Every dad has his own experiences, his own challenges and often his own turning point.
The little things became the big things.
In 2022, Will and his family spent 12 months travelling around Australia — an experience that became a defining chapter in their family life.
But when his children remember the trip, it’s the little things they talk about.
Dad pulling them along the shoreline on a boogie board. Sitting together around a campfire. Toasting marshmallows.
For Will, it reinforced something simple but powerful: our kids are often building their biggest memories in the moments that feel smallest to us.
Every moment of connection is a deposit.
Every interaction. Every conversation. Every experience where a child feels their dad is genuinely there.
These moments become deposits into a child’s memory bank — and often the ordinary moments are the ones they carry with them.
Presence over perfection.
Explore The Care Factor campaignFatherhood was never meant to be done alone.
Will is deeply aware of the role community can play in supporting fathers.
Sporting and football clubs have given him a sense of connection, purpose and belonging that was sometimes missing from his own childhood.
At their best, Will believes these spaces can be about much more than sport. They can create opportunities for vulnerability, personal growth and real connection between men.
And when Will thinks about the support that has made his own journey as a dad possible, the first person who comes to mind is his fiancée.
The father you want to be doesn’t happen by accident.
Will has learned that becoming the most connected, healthy and authentic version of yourself takes intention. It means investing in your own wellbeing, being willing to grow, finding support and continuing to ask how you want to show up for your children.
Because children aren’t waiting for a perfect dad.
They want Dad — present for the small moments that may one day become their biggest memories.
