29 June 2021
Every day people are carrying out good deeds so we decided to celebrate the great work that charities, community groups and campaigners do with a regular feature on Tuesdays, to tie-in with #CharityTuesday on social media.
This week, we caught up with charity ANDYSMANCLUB to find out more.
Where are you based and what geographical areas do you support people in?
Our office is based in Halifax, West Yorkshire having held our first session there in 2016 – we now support people in over 50 locations nationwide with all three constituent countries of Great Britain covered. We expand on a weekly basis and soon hope to have an ANDYSMANCLUB within 30 minutes of any man in the UK.
How do you support people?
We offer free-to-attend, non-professional, weekly peer-to-peer support groups for men promoting openness around mental health and targeting the stigma surrounding it. All groups are run by volunteers, many of whom first came to ANDYSMANCLUB as group users in need of support themselves. The groups centre around 5 questions every week, the first three relate to the week that has passed for attendees and whether there’s anything those attendees would like to get off their chest, questions 4 and 5 change every week and are designed to allow participants to either set targets or even have a bit of fun and leave smiling. The transformational effect that simply talking has had on the lives of so many men has been mind-blowing.
How did you come to be founded?
ANDYSMANCLUB takes its name from Andrew Roberts, a man who sadly took his own life aged 23 in early 2016. Andy’s family had no inkling that he was suffering or struggling to the extent that he would do this, and as a result looked deeper into male suicide and men’s mental health. They soon discovered that male suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50, with Male Mental Health surrounded by well-ingrained cultural stigma in the UK. Elaine Roberts and Luke Ambler are Andy’s Mum and Brother-in-Law, together they came up with the idea of ANDYSMANCLUB, a group where men aged 18 and above can speak openly about their mental health in a judgment-free, non-clinical environment, in the hope no family has to go through what they did when Andy passed.
How many people do you have working there?
We have 7 permanent members of staff with an army of over 300 volunteers nationwide.
How can people support you?
Every social media follow, like, share and comment helps us on our way and helps us get in front of as many men as possible. Social Media has been a massive part of our growth and any interactions we receive on there are gratefully received!
Otherwise, people can donate to our charity via www.andysmanclub.co.uk.
Have you faced any challenges along the way?
Plenty! But everyone involved with the charity has a passion for mental health and the cause meaning we’re determined enough to get past them! We are coming up to our fifth birthday shortly and without challenges and obstructions along the way we wouldn’t be in the position we’re in today.
Do you have any events coming up and where can people find out about these events?
We don’t have anything scheduled at the minute although plans are in place going forwards. Follow our Social Media accounts to stay up to date!
Is there any advice you could give to other agencies?
Work together with other organisations in the same field instead of competing with them!
You can find out more about ANDYSMANCLUB on their website or via Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, X (Twitter) or YouTube.
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