Talking of men's mental health, we're making progress

Andy's Man Club offers support to men finding it difficult to discuss what worries them most.

Do they? On a purely literal level, some men have more difficulty with shutting up for five minutes. Once you get them on certain topics you might have to wait until they take a drink before they cease yakking.

Certain topics include politics, cars, pubs, telly, work, utter rubbish and, of course, sport.

But just because some men can discuss whether Sunderland should play a flat back-four to near infinity, that doesn’t equate to an ability to discuss indisputably more important concerns.

And it’s a very serious problem. In fact it’s about as serious as problems ever get.

Let’s get to the point. Anyone ever affected by suicide may have thought afterwards: “But he had loads of friends to talk to.”

But what about? Be honest, the average bloke-to-bloke conversation in the North-East is unlikely to be particularly profound. However, one in eight men in England has a mental health problem.

Yet according to the Mental Health Foundation: “Men may be reluctant to seek support for their mental health or disclose mental health problems to loved ones.”

It’s easier for most men to discuss things that, in the last analysis, don’t really matter compared to how they’re feeling. They don’t want to be seen as self-absorbed or namby-pamby. But sometimes it’s a matter of life and death.

Happily, things are improving. Men are talking more; by which we mean properly. A branch of the organisation Andy’s Man Club has been opened at Sunderland College’s Bede Campus.

Michael Chapplow, who runs the sessions, said: “It’s basically peer-to-peer support for anybody who feels they need it, whether it’s a mental health issue or some other problem and it’s done in small groups.”

Significantly, whoever speaks at Andy’s Man Club holds a football to show they have the floor, while others help where they can. But you needn’t be remotely interested in football to attend.

Last November Sunderland AFC launched its Match Day Mental Health Hub, which performs a similar role. Other help is out there too.

No one needs to keep it all in. So please don’t.