Peterborough men’s support group part of nationwide tour to bring down suicide rates

To mark World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10 Andy’s Man Club organised a huge tour of the country, visiting all of the 22 club locations plus town and cities over two days.

This included a visit to Cathedral Square in Peterborough.

Among those travelling on two huge tour buses were group facilitators who themselves have been suicidal. In their words: “The club saved my life, I want to give back.”

The members have been handing out goodie bags, 60,000 leaflets, thousands of wristbands and having conversations on the streets with the aim of raising awareness of the groups.

The aim is to reduce suicide rates in men and to break down the stigmas and social attitudes towards men talking about their issues and feelings. The meetings, which take place each Monday night at 7pm, have just under 600 men attending each week across the UK.

The ones in Peterborough are from 7pm to 9pm at Outside Links in Wellington Street, next to the YMCA, except for bank holidays.

Attendees remain anonymous and can talk about anything.

Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 45 years old and three-quarters of all suicides in the UK are men.

More information about Andy’s Man Club can be found at http://andysmanclub.co.uk/where-we-meet/.