Community / Charity aims to give Shetland men safe space to talk
Content warning: This story makes reference to suicide. If you have been affected by this issue, help is available.
A SUICIDE prevention charity is aiming to set up a branch in Shetland to give men a safe space to talk.
Andy’s Man Club meets every Monday night between 7pm-9pm, with over 60 groups set up in Scotland and over 330 across the UK – despite being just 10 years old.
The charity was started in 2016 after Andrew Roberts took his own life in Halifax, aged just 23.
His family decided to set up a group for men to be able to speak freely about their struggles after discovering that suicide is the leading cause of death for men under 54.
They put out a message to see if there was any interest in such a group, and Andy’s Man Club held its first meeting just a week later after the high demand.
The charity’s head of Scotland, Alex McClintock, said the family “wanted to give men a space to come together” and talk about what was bothering them in the wake of Andrew’s shock death.
“The idea was for like a coffee club, to give men somewhere to talk so that it wasn’t taking up space in their heads,” he told Shetland News.
McClintock knows himself what it can be like. He walked into an Andy’s Man Club meeting years ago as someone seeking solace, and now leads its development across Scotland.
“We brought it up to Scotland in 2017, and it’s really taken off after that,” he said.
Every Andy’s Man Club session is volunteer-led, and facilitated by someone like McClintock – who has walked into a club at some point for a chat.
“Every single one of us that are facilitators, we have all walked through the door to get our own support,” he said.
“That’s how it grew quite quickly, people would come along and try it and then wanted to take it back to their home towns.”
The charity is initially encouraging people in Shetland to join its online sessions – also held on a Monday from 7pm-9pm – to gauge demand in the isles.
“We could come up and put a lot of resources in, and nobody turns up,” he explained.
“We want to see first, ‘can we encourage folk to come, open up and talk’.
“We’ve already had about six or seven guys from Shetland registered online, so hopefully if that continues we can get a facilitator trained and then a venue.”
Online meetings take place over Google Meets, with a link sent out for folk to join in from.
McClintock explained that the in-person club meetings see people sit in a circle and pass around a talking stick.
“The first question we ask is, ‘how’s your week been’,” he said.
“If you don’t want to answer you just pass the stick on.
“Next question is ‘one positive from your week’. Sometimes that’s just coming to the meeting.
“The third is ‘what’s been bugging you this week’. Then we stop for a break, and finally questions four and five are more positive questions.
“Five will be a light-hearted question, something like ‘what’s your favourite sandwich’.
“You have a bit of a laugh and a joke and leave feeling a bit better.”
He stressed that people joining the online group can “just float in and out if you want to”.
“Come when and if you want to. We’ll support you,” he added.
Anyone interested in signing up for the online sessions can email info@andysmanclub.co.uk or visit here for more information.
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