For Men To Talk reaches 700 Attendees so far in 2022

It’s the end of June. That means that we are half way through 2022 already! Where has that gone?

‘For Men To Talk’ has had an incredible first half of the year. We are going from strength to strength in attendance at our meetings and the feedback from the men is that they are finding them so important in their mental health journeys.

In January 2022, we welcomed ITV Anglia News and reporter Callum Fairhurst to the ‘For Men To Talk… and Walk’ meeting. Callum interviewed our founder, Luke Newman, and some of the attendees, on how the meetings help them. It was broadcasted as a news bulletin on television, as well as on their website.

In March 2022, we received our very first significant financial funding. The Heads-Up community campaign, helping men get happy and stay happy, which is part of BLMK ICS NHS England Suicide Prevention Funding, had seen and believed in the work that we had being doing over the last two years and donated funds to help us with their core task.

In May 2022, Luke visited Kenya, for the seventh time, on a humanitarian trip to one of the poorest suburbs of Nakuru in Kenya, helping to build a new kitchen and double-storey classroom.  This year he took his book titled ‘The Mental Health Moles, which he designed, wrote and self-published last year.

“During a break, I took the eldest class in the school and talked to them about the importance of talking to family, friends or teachers about how they are feeling, especially if they were feeling low,” said Luke. “They all shared copies of my book and together they read a few of the chapters out loud. It was a beautiful and humbling moment. From the feedback that I had from the children later that day they got a lot from the book and discussion.”

In June 2022, BBC Three Counties Radio, the local station that serves the counties of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, announced that Luke had kindly been nominated and now shortlisted with just three other people in the ‘Volunteer Category’ at the 2022 ‘Make A Difference Awards’. The winner of this and the other seven categories will be announced at an award ceremony on Thursday 22 September at the Grove Theatre in Dunstable

More importantly, now we have reached the second half of 2022, we have had 53 virtual, physical and walking meetings so far this year, which have attracted 701 attendees in total. That’s 53 opportunities for men to talk about how they are feeling and take big steps in improving their mental heath. What an incredible amount . Every man, no matter if they’ve attended once or numerous times, should be extremely proud of themselves. It takes a lot of courage for a man to open up and 701 times someone has done just that. Superb.

Let’s hope more and more men do so in the second half of the year.

Details on the ‘For Men To Talk’ Meetings 

• 1 x Virtual Group Meeting per week. These are held every Wednesday, starting at 6pm.
• 2 x Physical Group Meetings per month at The Crown Hotel (Wetherspoon) in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire. These are held on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday every month, starting at 6pm.
• 1 x Physical Group Meeting per month at St Neots Golf Club in Cambridgeshire. These are held on the 1st Tuesday every month, starting at 6pm.
• 1 x Physical Group Meeting per month at The Cambridge Belfry in Cambourne, Cambridgeshire. These are held on the 3rd Tuesday every month, starting at 6pm.
• 1 x Group ‘For Men To Talk… and Walk’ per month. These are held on the 2nd Sunday every month at 9.15am. starting from Jones’ Cafe in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire .

‘For Men To Talk’ raises awareness of mental health by:   

• Encouraging men to undertake the four pillars of wellbeing, which are sleep, exercise, stress management and nutrition, to improve mental health.   
• Posting daily supportive social media quotes accompanied by a photo. This is designed to motivate and maintain positive mental health.   
• Providing safe, supportive and confidential environments where men can talk freely about their mental health illness.   
• Providing information recognising the symptoms of male cancers.   
• Keep the ‘For Men To Talk’ website updated, with continual updates. This includes blogs discussing various issues of mental health for men.   

For further information on all of the above, please contact ‘For Men To Talk’ on formentotalk@hotmail.com or via 07709 446480.