11th March 2019
A safe environment has been set up at Huyton CGL to help break the stigma around ill mental health in men. The ‘New Directions’ men’s group is a place where male service users can meet for a coffee, form friendships and discuss any problems which are having a negative impact on their mental wellbeing.
A safe environment has been set up at Huyton CGL to help break the stigma around ill mental health in men. The ‘New Directions’ men’s group is a place where male service users can meet for a coffee, form friendships and discuss any problems which are having a negative impact on their mental wellbeing.
The group meets every Monday between 11.30am and 1pm, and the sessions have been running for five months. Over 20 CGL users are currently in attendance and benefiting from the help and support that they’ve been receiving from their peers.
Since the group has been running, there have been a number of speakers invited in to talk about their own experiences and inspire our clients. In January, Radio City’s resident DJ, Lee Butler, came in to talk about his own experiences through recovery. And last month, the group welcomed Michael Cullen (AKA Speedo Mick), who discussed his 17-year abstinence.
We’re also proud to announce that the group has seen a number of successes since its establishment – including three job starts and numerous enrolments onto catering, first aid and IT courses. Service users have also become actively involved with additional activities designed to boost their mental wellbeing even further – such as mindfulness yoga and the ‘Long Walk Good Talk’ programme.
It’s great to see that the group being so successful in such a short space of time, and we hope that it will continue to go from strength-to-strength. Given that, on average, 12 men in the UK take their own lives every day, groups like New Directions are becoming more important than ever.