HELLO and welcome to this special episode of Geoff Jones and Friends, Make it Better.

On this episode I am delighted to be joined by Jamie Mark from Andy's Man Club, a fantastic peer group which helps men in need of people to talk to in a safe space. I am truly grateful for Jamie's time and honesty as we talk about "lad" culture and how it breeds a barrier for men to speak about their mental health. More information on Andy's Man Club below.

ANDYSMANCLUB want to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health and create a judgment-free, confidential space where men can be open about the storms in their lives. Their aim is to achieve this through weekly, free-to-attend peer-to-peer support groups for men aged over 18.

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. Groups now operate nationwide and are completely volunteer-led, with the vast majority of group facilitators having first interacted with ANDYSMANCLUB when they came through the door as a service user.With a service used on a weekly basis by over 3000 men, and an army of 900+ facilitators, the movement is always continuing to grow on a week-by-week basis. Find your closest group in the UK, if you are outside of the UK and need help, contact the podcast page and I will try to help find a similar group for you.