Mental Health
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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. Update:…
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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…
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I Wish You’d Met Me Before Everything Changed
I Wish You’d Met Me Before Everything Changed. That line stuck with me. Not because it was deep or clever. It wasn’t really. It was one of those throwaway Facebook lines with zero context, designed to get a few likes and a comment or two from people who thought they’d just read something profound –…
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Two Hours of Human Connection in a Week
On a Monday night, a group of men sit in a room together and talk. Properly talk. Not the usual surface stuff about the weather or football scores, but the things most blokes carry around quietly for years. For two hours, nobody interrupts, nobody judges, nobody tries to fix you. They just listen. And that…
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Is Support Always Meant To Be Ongoing?
There’s something that’s been circling in my head for a while and it came up today in a conversation with another facilitator who’s been running a group as long as I have. Every Monday night, across the UK, around 6,500 (or so) men walk through the doors of Andy’s Man Club (it was actually over…
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They Asked for Help. They Were Told to Wait.
Twenty children. Twenty families. Twenty times the system had a chance to step in and didn’t. The Times investigation into the deaths of children with special educational needs and disabilities isn’t a sad one-off. It is a spotlight on something many of us have felt in our bones for years: mental health “support” in this…
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That One Man Who Nearly Went Home
A man stood 100 yards up the road. He nearly didn’t come in. This is why the sweeper role at Andy’s Man Club matters more than the handbook can explain. The Man Who Nearly Went Home Last night I had one of those moments that sticks with you. Along with another facilitator, I was on…
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Thanks Mate, Pass the Ball – Andy’s Man Club
Last night one of our facilitators shared that his long-time ill dad had passed away. This morning the group chat felt heavy. No one wanted to be the first to move it on. I said: Nobody wants to be the first to move the conversation on from what was shared. And I suppose that’s similar…
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When Helping Other Men Started To Hurt
For the past three years, I’ve walked into a room on a Monday night, pulled on a black and white AMC t-shirt, and, along with other facilitators (we have several now) tried to hold space for other men. I care about them. I care about the group. For a couple of hours a week, I…
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The Incredible Power of Just Being Accepted
I’ve just put the phone down from a conversation that’s left me feeling, well, a bit lighter. And that doesn’t happen often. This man, someone who’s been through the absolute wringer with his own mental health, worse than mine in some ways, similar in others, completely different in others still, said something that I needed…