'Man club' for suicidal males
We've been speaking with the man who runs Andy's Man Club in Oldham after male suicide hit the headlines again.
We've been speaking with the man who runs Andy's Man Club in Oldham after male suicide hit the headlines again.
Andy's Man Club was launched in West Yorkshire in 2016 and has spread across the Pennines to Manchester and beyond.
It allows unreferred men to meet at least once a week and share their struggles with likeminded individuals.
"What happens in fight club stays in fight club and we're very much the same in Andy's Man Clubs."
Andy Greenway hosts the meeting at Oldham Leisure Centre at 19:00 on Mondays:
"We sit together and we have a brew ... that is the long and the short of it.
"They can come and they can talk about absolutely anything they want, with no fear of judgement. If you don't want to speak that particular week, you don't speak.
"You can see them change just through walking through the door. You can almost see them grow within the first 10 minutes - they sort of go from body language where they're showing the world's on their shoulders to looking up and making a little bit of eye contact with some people.
"We're just over a year old now and we've trebled in size, which is both amazing and devastating at the same time.
"More people are becoming aware of themselves, which has only been helped by some of the publicity that we've had from the likes of recent storylines on Coronation Street. Just getting these subjects out there to be dealt with and making people comfortable to talk about it and breaking down the stigma is what we're all about.
"What happens in fight club stays in fight club and we're very much the same in Andy's Man Clubs.
"The issues are huge, many and varying but we don't really like to discuss the sort of things that are discussed within our sessions, just to give the guys that sort of comfort to come and feel that they can express themselves".
Andy's Man Club can be contacted via http://andysmanclub.co.uk/contact/ but if you feel like you need immediate support, please consider attending an event nearest to you or contact the Samaritans free on 116 123.