Mental Health
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When A Broken Man Walks Through The Door
Some men walk into Andy’s Man Club quietly. Some after walking or driving passed a few times. Some hover near the door; unsure – anxious. Some sit down, fold their arms, and spend the first hour working out whether they’ve made a terrible mistake. And then some men walk in already broken. I don’t mean…
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One Simple Idea – 10 Years of Andy’s Man Club
Ten years ago today, one man sat in a coffee shop with an idea. A week after asking for the blessing from the heartbroken mother of a young man who’d lost her son to suicide. he didn’t have a business plan. It wasn’t a national charity with hundreds of venues across the UK. Just an…
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Addiction Is What Pain Looks Like From the Outside
People are very good at seeing the bit that inconveniences them. They see the drinking, the drugs, the gambling, the missed appointments, the broken promises, the lies, the chaos and the damage. And to be fair, those things are real. Addiction doesn’t only hurt the person stuck in it. It can tear through families. It…
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Many Men Carry the Same Weight for Years
Sometimes, at Andy’s Man Club, you hear a man talk about something he’s been carrying for years. He doesn’t sit down and announce it. It’s not that neat. It comes out in bits, in the way he talks about work, about his family, about himself, in the same sentence he’s probably said a hundred times…
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It’s Okay to Talk, But Is It Always Safe?
Talking about what’s going on in your head only helps if the person listening can actually handle hearing it. Most people, when they ask how you are, want the short answer, not the real one. Knowing the difference matters as much as being willing to talk in the first place. “It’s okay to talk.” You’ll…
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There’s No Place for Ego in an Andy’s Man Club Shirt
Andy’s Man Club runs on the principle that every facilitator is equal. There’s no hierarchy beyond whoever happens to be leading the session on a given Monday night. The “lead facilitator” title isn’t a rank, it’s a rota. With more than 330 groups and 6,500 men attending weekly across the UK, that structure only holds…
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Mental Health Awareness Week Again? Pick Up the Phone.
Mental Health Awareness Week runs every May, but the gap between posting about mental health and actually supporting someone has never been wider. Social media fills up with graphics, hashtags, and corporate compassion, while people who are genuinely struggling often go days without a real conversation. The most effective thing you can do for someone’s…
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Let Him Finish, The Quiet Discipline of Listening
There’s a moment that happens quite often at Andy’s Man Club, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot. It can look like a small thing when you first notice it. One man is talking. Really talking. Maybe for the first time in weeks or months. He’s got everyone’s, he’s taken a pause and trying…
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Why Those Powerful Words Live on My Homepage
Nine words from a 1998 Manic Street Preachers number one sit at the top of this blog for a reason. They come originally from a Spanish Civil War propaganda poster, carried forward by a Welsh band still shaped by the disappearance of their lyricist Richey Edwards, who struggled with depression and vanished in 1995. The…
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The Algorithms of Addiction Are Finally on Trial
I’ve spent years writing about the intersection of mental health and the digital world (more specifically social media). For a long time, those of us pointing out the psychological manipulation baked into social media were often dismissed as “alarmist” or told that “personal responsibility” was the only factor. I’ll be the first to admit that…