By Gavin Demurger-Jones

It’s a simple question that starts every Talk Club. But it’s a question that’s saving lives. Talk Club is a grassroots male mental health charity. Founded in Bristol in March 2019 it has now grown into a force for good, with over 2,500 men in its community and 67 groups around the globe.

It’s a positive space for men to be vulnerable, to be themselves, to talk about what is bothering them. We concentrate on mental fitness. (Like physical fitness, but for your mind) which in turn will prevent mental ill-health. To get men to look after themselves before it’s too late. Because for many it is too late. Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50 in the UK. 76% of suicides are male. 16 men a day. A man every 90 minutes. One of those men was Talk Club co-founder and co-CEO Ben Akers’s childhood best friend Steve Yates. But he wasn’t a number. He was a father. A son. A husband. And a friend... Ben’s friend.

He was an everyday, funny, generous awesome bloke. He got so unwell he believed that the friends and family that loved him would be better off without him. Which, of course, is completely untrue. But that’s what mental illness does. It changes the way they look at the world. The way they look at themselves. Talk Club is all based around a question that gets men talking: How are you? Out of 10? It’s to spark that conversation. To get men to own that moment, to use it as a way to say I’m in trouble. Every man’s number is different. One man’s 5 is another man’s 8, it’s just a technique to get men to open up, but it’s working.

A typical session is held in a male comfortable space like in the back room of a pub or a sports club. There are typically 8-10 men in a group but it can be less. ‘Haywards Heath TALK CLUB’ has just started and is open to all men over 18. It’s FREE and takes place on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month between 7.30 and 9.30pm. If you’d like to come, contact Nathan on 07525 125535 or nathan@theunsaidspace.com. www.wetalkclub.com