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** Fully Booked** 2023 DAD Summer Drive Day
January 29, 2023 @ 8:30 am - 2:30 pm
Thank you for your support! This event is now fully booked and closed for registrations. Our next drive is the DAD Autumn Drive Day on Sunday 23rd April in partnership with our good friends at Berwick Ford. Please click here to register your interest in attending and be first to receive event announcements.
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Bring on Summer and the new year, we’re ready for a drive!
DAD’s much loved seasonal drives are back in 2023, bringing opportunities for great roads, great company and normalised conversations about mental health.
What Happens at a DAD Drive Day?
For our community, driving is freedom. The focus DAD events are always connection and community.
We use driving and the shared enthusiasm for cars and great roads as our way of connecting and escaping downward emotional spirals. We know that connection is vital for mental wellbeing – whether that’s connection with mates, with hobbies, or with ourselves.
DAD drive days offer the ideal judgement-free opportunity for all-important connection and community, and hold the intention to normalise mental health problems and mental illness, promote conversations around these and offer pathways for seeking further support.
Registered participants are provided with the drive route, navigation notes and full event details ahead of the day. Drive days begin with a morning briefing (and optional but much welcomed coffee!) where we come together to chat through the drive plan and hear from one of our Mental Wellness Network specialists.
After briefing we head off to our morning tea point by following the event drive route. Hard copy navigation notes are provided for those who prefer this format and are sharing the drive with a mate, we also offer electronic mapping for solo drivers or those who’d prefer to focus on the driving and the chat rather than course notes.
At morning tea we take a break and have a chat, then continue on to our finish point and group lunch. Lunch is the end to the set drive route, everyone takes their own pace at lunch and makes their way home when ready. This allows enough time to enjoy the day and still be home for a Sunday evening relax or to prepare for the week ahead.
What DAD Drive Days are Not
Competitive, timed, driven in strict convoy or exclusive.
DAD isn’t a club, it’s a community. Please don’t feel you need to have a particular model or age of car to attend – if you love it, bring it.
Our drive days are strictly social and non-competitive. We use open roads and carefully plan our drive routes to make them as safe and logical as possible, while using engaging roads with new scenery for a great day out.
We advocate for using DAD drive days as an inclusive environment to start your mental health conversation where you feel comfortable to do so, however DAD drive days are not a crisis service and keeping everyone safe on the road is of utmost importance.
Ready? Let’s Drive!
Registrations are now open for our 2023 Summer Drive Day.
When: Sunday 29th January 2023
Approximate Time: Briefing to commence at 9:00am. Arrival is welcome any time from 8:30am. We aim to finish around 1:30pm.
Location: Starting from BP Southbound on the Geelong Ring Road (Calvino coffee)
Morning Tea: Approximately 11:00am at Barwon Downs Park. Picnic space and toilets are available. Please bring a self-catered morning tea.
Lunch: Available at the Great Ocean Road Chocolaterie, which is our finish point. Please indicate in your registration if you are intending to join the group lunch so we can book space accordingly.
Crew Needed
We are seeking two Event Legends to volunteer for this event. This might involve selling raffle tickets at briefing, helping welcome participants upon arrival or setting up the DAD flag, etc., plus any other way in which you might like to contribute! Please reach out via connect@driveagainstdepression.com.au if you are able to support this event.
We look forward to cruising together!
How to Participate
Pop the date in your diary and gather your mates!
Registrations are now open, please complete the details below.
For DAD to continue offering events and mental health support we gratefully welcome your donation to join this drive.
Step 1: Donate
Step 2 : Register your attendance