Supporting men struggling with mental health

Hi my name is Mark Smith, the C.E.O. of ManLeigh I lost my 10 month baby boy his name was Joshua 25 years ago to a very rare heart condition now back then I went through a personal hell as there was no or little support and I promised to my self that no man would ever suffer as I have so ManLeigh was formed three years ago we are based in Leigh and support men who are struggling locally in the Borough. These issues can be health issues, addictions, debt, relationship breakdown, boredom, social isolation, and more that can and will affect mental health and wellbeing, and much more. We offer outreach over a brew and chat at Leigh Library, a safe place where men can speak freely without judgment, offering peer-to-peer support and signposting. We also run a keep-fit non-contact Boxercise session with Boxing for Better at Westleigh Family Startwell Center, which gives the guys a good workout but is also fun. We also work in the community, visiting men who would struggle to attend a men's group due to anxiety and injury, as we are not a tick box organisation or time limited, we work with the guys for years, not weeks at a time. Then there is our work at Atherleigh Park hospital every Tuesday where we meet up with the guys who have been section and are in hospital suffering from one or more mental health issues where we just have a chat over a brew and doughnuts and help the new guys to settle in and they say it's good to meet some one normal and to get to hear the other guys talk who don't normaly choose to communicate on the wards and then are encourage to attend the out reach so all of the above feeds into the hub and this is what makes the hub such an important place both now and into the future. The mental health system is overburdened to breaking point, We see brocken homes, loss of a job so many men choose to take their own lives, leaving behind more questions than answers, leaving it to charities like us to prevent and pick up the pieces after, so every penny counts and helps us to continue and expand our work.

The article below from the Centre of Mental Health shows the power of your donation and what it will achieve for Leigh and the Borough

The economic and social costs of mental ill health

27 March 2024

Review of methodology and update of calculations

Frederico Cardoso and Zoë McHayle

Mental ill health has a devastating impact on people’s lives. This report seeks to calculate the costs of mental ill health on individuals, society and the economy.

This analysis finds that the total cost of mental ill health in England in 2022 was £300 billion. The cost is comprised of three major elements:

Economic costs of £110bn: Losses to the economy due to mental ill health. These include the business costs of sickness absence and ‘presenteeism’ at work, as well as staff turnover and unemployment among people with mental ill health.

Human costs of £130bn: The value, expressed in monetary terms, of reduced quality of life and premature mortality among people living with mental health difficulties

Health and care costs of £60bn: This includes support provided by public services and informal care provided by family and friends.

Commissioned by the NHS Confederation’s Mental Health Network, the report finds that the majority of these costs fall on people living with mental health difficulties and their families (£175bn) through loss of earnings, informal care, a reduction in quality of life, and having to self-fund mental health support.

The overall costs of mental ill health equate to double the NHS’s entire budget in England in 2022 (£153bn). They are similar to the estimated impact of Covid-19 on the UK economy in 2020 (£260bn in 2020 prices) – comparable, economically, to having a pandemic every year.