Neil ‘Wilko’ Wilcock survived domestic violence: now he’s sharing his story
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I met Neil Wilcock when he interviewed me for my first job in radio over five years ago.
I was sitting in a group interview in the Amplify CBR boardroom, and I can distinctly remember trying to maintain eye contact with the tall charismatic man with piercing baby blue eyes directly opposite me. Since then I’ve been lucky enough to call him one of my closest friends and mentors, along with his equally charismatic co-host Courtenay ‘Courts’ Kneen, and together they now grace the airways of Hit 104.7 every weekday from 6am.
After many late afternoons and early mornings spent in the ‘studio in the paddock’ in Crace, I learned of Wilko’s lived experience of domestic violence. As a child, he was subject to physical, emotional and verbal abuse at the hands of his stepdad – an experience that’s had immense, lifelong ramifications for him and his family.
It’s stories like this that Wilko & Courts, along with their colleagues at Amplify CBR and their sister station Mix 106.3’s Kristen and Nige, want to bring to light. They want to initiate and lead conversations about coercive control and its impact on our community through their new campaign: Reach Out Speak Up.
“There seemed to be a lot of talk about the complicated needs of people going through domestic violence, and coercive control, but not a great deal of transparency on what services were available,” Wilko says.
“On the Reach Out Speak Up website there’s all the resources you might need if you’re in a vulnerable or dangerous situation. If you’re pregnant and trying to escape your violent partner, or if you have a friend being coercively controlled and you’re not sure how to address it, it’s all in the one spot.”
Hit 104.7’s Wilko & Courts
Wilko’s on-air partner Courts says it was also important to the Amplify CBR team that they highlight the different types of abuse that might occur.
“I think if you’re not being physically abused, often it seems like your experience isn’t legit. That it’s not abuse. But being controlled and coerced and verbally put down is also abuse. I think a lot of people worry about proving their case, like maybe it won’t count.
“But it does. It all does.”
The Reach Out Speak Up Campaign will create awareness about the support and resources available through commercials across both Hit 104.7 and Mix 106.3, along with a series of podcast episodes to help start and continue conversations in our communities. In the podcasts, the team speaks with victims of coercive control and domestic and family violence cases, as well as first responders.
In one episode, Mix 106.3 CBR Wrapped host Gabi Elgood speaks with David Kramer, a close friend of Brisbane woman Hannah Clarke who was murdered along with her children by her husband. This year alone, more than 50 women have been murdered by a man.
Neil ‘Wilko’ Wilcock as a child
Wilko’s story is featured in a podcast episode with an interview by his co-host Courts, speaking to his personal experience with domestic and family violence, and the long road to recovery.
“I think a lot of people assume it’s only a female problem, which it’s not.” Courts says.
“While it is very much worse for women, you also have to consider that for a child like Wilko it was a female problem because it was happening to his mum, and it trickled down from his mum to him. And then as he grows it becomes a man problem because he’s the one that has to deal with finding help, seeking the resources, therapy, whatever he has to do as a grown man to overcome that.”
The Reach Out Speak Up campaign carries a universal message: we must do more.
Tune in to the podcasts via the Reach Out Speak Up website.
