Mental Health
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I’m Going to Be an Andy’s Man Club Facilitator
It’s been a couple of months since I first walked through the door at Andy’s Man Club, and I’m still not entirely sure I can explain what it does to you. Not in a way that doesn’t sound a bit soft, anyway. But something shifted. It’s hard to put your finger on it at first.…
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I Finally Went to Andy’s Man Club. Here’s What Happened.
I’d been putting it off. For a while, actually. Longer than I’d like to admit. Jason had been messaging me for weeks. He’d spotted me asking questions in the Andy’s Man Club Facebook groups and kindly offered to take me along. No pressure. Just a genuine offer from a bloke I’d never met. And still,…
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Notification Spam Is a Lie, and You Already Know It
I’m starting to dread that little red dot. You know the one. The tiny badge that suggests something is waiting for you. Something important. Something personal. And for half a second, your brain does that ridiculous little lift. Then you open it. And it’s bollocks. Another “update available” from a company you’ve never heard of.…
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Why Men Stop Going to Andy’s Man Club
Last time I wrote about Andy’s Man Club, I ended with “I don’t know yet.” I still don’t know. But I did what I always do when I can’t make a decision. I went looking for information. Read about how it works. Read about the research behind peer support. Read about what actually happens in…
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ACEs Explained – The 1998 Study That Changed Everything
When I talk about trauma, mental health, or long-term health problems, I often refer back to something called the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) study. This post is here so I can link to it as a simple, go-to explanation of what that actually means. A Plain-English Guide to the 1998 Felitti Study In short, the…
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A Man Club – Should I Trust It or Not?
I keep hearing about this thing called Andy’s Man Club. Monday nights. Men only. Talking. Apparently it’s everywhere now. Loads of groups all over the country. Thousands of men turning up each week. On paper, that sounds impressive. But here’s the problem. I’m in a mess. 2022 has probably been the worst year of my…
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The Quiet Weight of ADHD Shame
The Quiet Weight Of ADHD Shame One of the heaviest parts of ADHD isn’t the missed deadline or the lost keys. It’s the slow build-up of words that stick. “Too much.” “Too loud.” “Lazy.” “Wasted potential.” You hear them as a child. You hear them at school. Sometimes you hear them at home. And even…
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Why My Body Panics Even When My Track Record Says I’m Safe
I can be about to do something I’ve done a hundred times before and still feel like I’m about to walk into a disaster. Nothing new. Nothing complicated. No red flags. And yet my chest tightens. My brain starts running simulations. This is the time it goes wrong. Not because it ever has in any…
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Childhood Trauma and Adult Health – What the Evidence Shows
Viral posts only tell half the story… You’ve probably seen posts like this doing the rounds on social media: “I wish more people understood that unhealed childhood trauma doesn’t just disappear. It shows up decades later as autoimmune disease, heart issues, chronic pain, exhaustion and mental health struggles. What happened to you at 4, 10…
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When a Mental Health Space Said I Was Too Much
A few years ago, around 2017 or 2018, I was deep involved in mental health support. With help from my wife I’d built a mental health chat group online, dozens of members, people posting at all hours because that’s what people in crisis do. No 9-to-5, no “back in the morning.” I was also running…