Psychs on Bikes founder and president Dr Joe Dunn and his wife, clinical nurse Susan, will be on Cape York this week undertaking a reconnaissance mission ahead of the group embarking on a tour from the top of the country to Wilsons Promontory in August 2026. Photo: Supplied.
Helping hands can come in many sizes, shapes and forms – sometimes, that includes two wheels.
The founder and president of Psychs on Bikes, psychiatrist Dr Joe Dunn, and his clinical nurse wife, Susan, are on Cape York this week carrying out reconnaissance for a tour in August 2026 the group hopes will pay dividends for remote health outcomes.
The motorcycle-loving Dr Dunn founded the group during a ride across the Nullarbor Plain in 2011, and it has evolved into a movement that has mental health professionals from across the country joining him on “epic rides” to raise health awareness and destigmatise the idea of seeking help in rural and remote Australia.
Dr Dunn said this week’s Cape York trip was all about “spying the lie of the land and meeting people with whom we can engage and work”.
“Our interest is in rural and remote mental health, with a particular interest in reducing the rate of suicide in men,” he explained.
“We’ll talk to anyone who’ll stop to listen; we offer free health checks, which are aimed at finding people who live with one of the four silent killers – high blood pressure, diabetes, alcohol abuse and depression.
“We’re trying to desensitise people, especially men, to the experience of sitting with a professional who’s asking after your emotional wellbeing; we hope that that will make it easier for people to reach out for help long after we’ve ridden on. “
Dr Dunn said he hoped to have up to a dozen mental health professionals astride their iron horses for the Cape York leg of the ride next year, adding he believed the final stretch of the journey – to Wilsons Promontory on the southern end of Victoria – would be a cinch after the corrugations and bulldust holes of the Peninsula Developmental Road.
“We’ll be limited to the riders with off-road bikes, and Psychs on Bikes who ride big street machines will have to join us when we return to Cooktown or Cairns,” he said.
“The personal challenge will be to ride the thousand-or-so kilometres of dirt right to the tip of Australia; Wilsons Promontory, on the other end of the ride, will be a walk in the park in comparison.
“We’re keen to interact with as many locals as many times as we can fit into a week or two on the Cape.”
Cape York health stakeholders, businesses and community organisations keen to play a part in next year’s tour can contact Psychs on Bikes through its website, or by emailing [email protected].
