International Men’s Day (IMD) is celebrated worldwide on November 19 to highlight the positive value men bring to the world, their families and communities; highlighting positive role models and raising awareness of men’s well-being.
A large part of men’s health is being mentally healthy.
To this end, John Tremble has brought mental health and wellbeing to the forefront of the Ossett community, in establishing the Facebook page and group ‘Uniting WF’. The idea came to realisation last year when he lost two friends to suicide.
After his own battles with mental health, John wanted to help others. He sources many services that can help people and brings their resources together, to offer help in one place.
The ethos of the group is: Uniting WF mental health and wellbeing is a group where people in and around the WF postcode area can ask to post information and advertisements for local groups, events and activities that help to bettersupport mental health and wellbeing. The aim of Uniting WF is to bring people together.
“I started the group in July 2019 and we now have over 1,500 members and growing daily. Included in that number we have around 100 charities, non-profit organisations and private businesses. The Facebook group is private, and I feel this helps our members feel safer to speak if they want to,” John explained.
John shared this advice for people who are suffering or know someone suffering with their mental health:
“Try just to listen, listen without judgement; show empathy and sympathy
and most importantly don’t worry if you can’t help the person right away. Just being a listening ear can make a world of difference, we often ask people to reach out, but we all also remember to reach in.”
Another great thing that people can do are short suicide prevention training courses like ‘Assist and Safe’ run by Young Lives Consortium.
The first thing someone should do if they are struggling is to seek professional help, that can be a GP or health adviser. If they feel they may be in danger of harming themself or others they should go to A&E or call 999.
