It's OK to Talk: A Practical Guide to Mental Health for Men

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When you phrase them as if you’re speaking to someone else, you might have an easier time believing them. This can really make a difference if you struggle with self-compassion and want to improve self-esteem. With 67 per cent market share and no significant category competitor, it was fundamentally about changing attitudes towards communications. This film was produced as a training aid for all NHS Grampian staff on the difficult topic of racism. Our people, like every organisation across the UK, sadly encounter racism at work and in their wider lives. That simply isn't right.

So too often, newcomers are left to stumble on it by themselves. Eventually, they figure out the unwritten rules on their own, but that might take months, even years. There are over 150 groups across the UK including; London Euston, Barnet, Basildon, Chelmsford – just to name a few locally – Plus online sessions. By now, you probably feel a little better about talking to yourself. And self-talk certainly can be a powerful tool for boosting mental health and cognitive function. In Australia, suicide is the biggest killer of Australian men aged 15 to 44, eclipsing road death, cancer Andy’s Man Club is a mens suicide prevention charity, offering free-to-attend, peer-to-peer support groups across the UK.If you slip up, try not to feel embarrassed. Even if you don’t notice it, most people do talk to themselves, at least occasionally. Women are more likely to talk about what’s going on and seek help for mental health problems, whereas we men are great at bottling things up and toughing it out – even if we’re in a pretty bad place. We can’t afford to stay silent. We need to talk about the tough stuff and we need to act. Whatever it was, I was a man who did his best to avoid showing ‘weakness’. Weakness was dangerous. Weakness could get you hurt. I believed that showing my emotions was the biggest weakness. So I bottled them up, pushed them aside and left them to be dealt with another day.

The network is focused on improving support for anyone at GDS who is affected by poor mental health (whether directly or indirectly), and protecting and promoting good mental health for everyone. Unfortunately, my first thoughts ofsuicide were not my last and had it not been for timely intervention in the previous months, I may well not be here today. I had been experiencing anxiety and depression. I was having therapy, trying my best to confront issues I’d never dealt with. But my true feelings were still left behind, confined within my own four walls. I wasn’t sharing them with my friends or family. I was a closed book. Was it because of my upbringing? Was it my job? You never know what else is going on with the people you work with. Our colleagues are human beings who may be suffering, or having a bad time.Firstly, we need to talk about it. Opening up when we’re struggling can be the hardest thing, but if we have problems, we need to share them. If we know somebody going through a tough time, we ask them how they're feeling. And if they tell us they’re depressed or anxious, we don’t baulk at the subject, we confront it. I know from my own experience just how difficult that can be - for many men it doesn't appeal to our sense of ‘machismo’ - but it’s time to step up guys. The movement is all about changing the conversation around mental health and raising awareness for suicide prevention. If you listen to a ‘typical’ conversation of a group of men, you might hear discussion about general health or illness; flu and stomach bugs, or even sporting injuries… yet you probably won’t hear talk of mental health.

The Foundation’s Head 4 Health programme organises informative workshops alongside physical activity and is funded by the Premier League & PFA Community Fund with additional support from the City of Wolverhampton Council. And it occurred to me: maybe it would be helpful to spell out this unofficial stuff up front, on day 1. Maybe we just need to say what’s ok. To be explicit about the things that those of us who have been here a few years take for granted. I know it might sound easy. I know it’s certainly not. But through my experience and therapy I have learnt I should open up to people about how I’m feeling, instead of bottling up my thoughts and feelings and allowing them to fester. If I’m anxious, I should tell somebody. I’ve also learned:The team I work with has been hiring too. We welcomed one newcomer two weeks ago, and two more just this week. Everyone has good days and bad days, and if you’re having a bad day there’s nothing wrong or weak or lazy about that. It’s just a bad day. You’re allowed to not be ok. It’s ok to ask for help We all find it hard to talk about our mental health at times. Whether it’s because we’re worried we’ll be judged, or it’s difficult to put into words, talking can be tough. For more about how you could offer support, see our information on supporting someone else to seek help for a mental health problem. Moser JS, et al. (2017). Third-person self-talk facilitates emotion regulation without engaging cognitive control: Converging evidence from ERP and fMRI. DOI:

When someone has a mental health problem, they’re still the same person as they were before. When a friend or loved one opens up about mental health, they don’t want you to treat them any differently . If you want to support them, keep it simple. Do the things you’d normally do. Be patient Maybe you built your bed by yourself, even though the instructions clearly said it was a two-person job. Or perhaps you had to take on the extremely technical task of repairing your computer. Take them seriously. People who talk about suicide do sometimes act on their feelings — it's a common myth that they don't. It's best to assume that they are telling the truth about feeling suicidal. Society’s attitudes and expectations of how men should be are part of the problem. We need to challenge these attitudes and behaviours and make it okay for men to talk and get help when they need it. The uncomfortable truth is that traditional notions of what it is to be a man today are killing men. The basis of reciprocating confidences was that the exchange of ‘confidences’ between human beings leads to better communications and, in turn, deeper relationships.I say all of this from a position of experience, because the best thing that I did for myself was to open up. Only when I shared my emotions, did I begin to feel the load lighten and in turn spied a light at the end of the tunnel. Across the world, the facts speak clearly: men aren’t going to the doctor soon enough. They’re not comfortable talking about their health and their feelings. They struggle in silence, or take action too late. Globally, 510,000 men die from suicide each year–that’s one every minute. And yet, it’s hidden in the shadows and shrouded in stigma.