On 10th May, as part of Mental Health Awareness Week, Edge Hill University hosted an open and honest conversation with Radio and TV host Roman Kemp. The event saw Roman give a first-hand account of his emotional BBC documentary Our Silent Emergency, which explores the mental health and suicide crisis gripping young men across the UK, and emphasised the importance of asking twice if someone is okay. The event also included a panel discussion analysing the topic of mental health from different angles, as well as highlighting the work Edge Hill, in conjunction with Everton in the Community, have undertaken with the Champs Public Health Collaborative around men’s mental health.
A number of interventions and support were highlighted, including:
- The award-winning mental health programme Tackling the Blues, delivered in partnership between Edge Hill University, Everton in the Community and Tate Liverpool, to promote young people’s mental health in education through sports, physical activity and the arts;
- Rugby League Cares’ Offload programme which offers stigma-free, non-clinical environments to support men’s mental health conversations. The programme is solution focussed and has gender sensitive approaches alongside sporting analogies, to help reduce mental health stigma and increase engagement.
- The collaborative work between Edge Hill, Everton in the Community and the Champs Collaborative particularly around men’s health programmes across C&M, bringing specific attention to the No More Suicide website www.no-more.co.uk
The event concluded with the highlighting of a workshop to be held on 16th June which will showcase the findings from the C&M Men’s health programmes.
