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Help Men.Walk.Chat reach the men who aren't looking for us
0% complete
£350 raised of
25 donations
Imagine seeing someone in the pub each evening after work. They're always there, ready with a dry-witted line or a chat about the state of the potholes in the road. And then, with no warning, no expectation, they stop coming. Not because they've gone off the pub, but because they were hurting inside and needed to end a pain that is so invisible to the outside world.
That is exactly what Toby saw. It's part of the reason Men.Walk.Chat exists.
In the UK, a man takes his own life every two hours. It's the biggest killer of men under 50, and yet it's the thing we talk about least.
I'm Ed and a few years ago, I could feel myself becoming withdrawn, wanting to stay in bed all the time, becoming less tolerant as a husband and father. It became too much for me to handle, so I phoned the GP, who referred me to mental health support. Then I met my wife after work, sat on a park bench, and opened up.
And yet, I'm one of the lucky ones. Too many don't have the confidence to talk, or the people to talk to.
Men.Walk.Chat isn't a counselling service. We're not experts, and we don't pretend to be. We're just men who meet on the first Sunday of every month at St Ives Bridge and go for a walk. No cost, no sign-up, no pressure.
There's something about walking side by side, rather than sitting face to face, that makes it easier to open up. No eye contact required. The conversation just... happens, somewhere between the bridge and the second mile.
Right now we reach around 200 men through our Facebook page, but the men we most want to reach often aren't on there at all.
I've since built a website at http://menwalkchat.co.uk/, which I did for free, but that's still not enough.
I've bought posters, which appear in various places across town, but now I want to go the people of St Ives directly, and post a flyer through every door in our town, so men know we're here if they need us.
I believe that's how we reach the man who needs a Sunday morning walk but doesn't yet know we exist.
To do this, we need to raise £1000 and every pound goes straight into reaching more men. Nothing else.
Any money we recieve that takes us beyond our goal will go to fund future print rounds of posters and flyers.
If you can chip in, thank you, you're not just funding a flyer. You're helping a bloke find his way to the bridge one Sunday morning.
And if you can't donate, sharing this does just as much good.
Thank you for your support
- Ed, Mark, & Toby
If you're struggling, please talk to someone. You can call Samaritans free, day or night, on 116 123.
