Preston social worker brings organisations together in support of men's mental health

Through her work as a mental health social worker, Hazel wanted to bring together different organisations that specialise in men's wellbeing in a networking event.

She said: "At the beginning of this year, the bodies found in the docks affected us professionally, but people that I knew were asking what work we were doing to help men in the area. With my work for the community mental health team, we don't get to spend time with people on a one to one basis for as long as we used to.

"Me and my colleague Sarah Burke decided to contact a few groups around town that help men going through mental health struggles and found so many more than we were aware of. Not only that, but so many of them didn't know anything about each other. I thought it was important for these organisations to be able to network and discuss different strategies to help."

In February, the pair were offered a room at Breathe and S.E.E.D therapies, on Chain Caul Way, in a plan to brainstorm ways to provide care to men battling with mental health struggles.

Although the pandemic has put their plans on hold, the group has continued to stay in touch and plans to become 'more creative' with tackling mental health stigma and providing services across Ashton and Preston.

Hazel said: "It is important that all the support services know about each other because some of them have been duplicating the service they offer and some men have been accessing more than one. It is vital that we share knowledge about what does and doesn't work for different men.

"We only expected a few guys would come to the networking event, but in the end we needed to find extra chairs because there were more than 20 of us in total, which shows how much support there is for men going through difficulties in Preston.

"We have kept in touch and I have been forwarding information to the network of local events and information to support wellbeing, with regards to mental health first aid and suicide prevention. We aim to facilitate a follow-up session via Zoom. I am in contact with a number of the facilitators regularly as we learn to be creative in adapting our approach and utilising the best forums and mediums in engaging our men in these therapeutic activities and conversations."

Organisations involved included Dig In, DadsNet and Mens Talk - in a bid to transform men's mental health services in the city and offer a range of support.

Using social media sites and video call serives, such as Skype or Zoom, have been some of the ways that these organisations have stayed in touch with the men that rely on them for support.

The pandemic has had a noticeable impact on the mental health of people across the country - according to the Mental Health Foundation, almost one in five UK adults feel 'hopeless' because of the pandemic.

Hazel added: "Groups have been creative and resourceful in continuing their ‘meetings’ in lockdown, mostly virtually via social media platforms. Ideally, they would each benefit from additional informal support, offers of sponsorship to help towards securing venues and basic sports equipment and associated running costs.

"Mostly however, they need the continued dedication of our community champions and to reach out to our men and collectively continue to make Preston proud."