Men’s Mental Health Campaign
On the 10th September 2024, on World Suicide Prevention Day, we are launching a campaign to better support men’s mental health within our community.
Did you know that suicide is the biggest killer of men in the UK?
We want to support men who are struggling with their mental health by offering free counselling sessions at our well-established, professional counselling service, to avoid reaching that crisis point.
Free counselling sessions
We’re therefore offering a free initial consultation and six counselling sessions to 100 men over a two-year period, and we’re enormously grateful to our big-hearted funders* for supporting this important project. These sessions can be looked upon as the start of a longer period of counselling, as the option to continue with self-funded sessions afterwards is available. Or it may be that these initial sessions are enough. You don’t have to decide this before applying; this is something that you can think about as you go through your sessions, and discuss with your counsellor. The fees for subsequent sessions are based on your annual income and you can find out more information about this here.
This offering is open to any men within our community who feel that they could benefit from talking with a trained professional. Sometimes, talking with someone you don’t know can be incredibly freeing, although we fully understand that if you’re not used to talking about yourself, it can take a while for this to feel comfortable.
To find out more about how we work, we encourage you to read our Individual Counselling page, which may answer any questions you have.
Is this for me?
If you answer yes to any of the below questions, perhaps you could take a really positive step today and reach out to us. We know that asking for help can feel really difficult for many, and also know that the first step is often the hardest.
- Do you find it hard to talk about yourself, and easier to listen to others?
- Do you use humour to divert people away from noticing how you might really be feeling?
- Do you bottle your feelings up?
- Do you believe that others expect you to be strong and that talking about your feelings might be seen as weakness?
- Do you keep conversations at a superficial and safe level, to avoid anyone really ‘seeing’ you?
- Do you have friends and family whom you could talk to, but don’t want to burden or scare them?
- Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed, but feel that you have to put a brave face on for the sake of others?
- Do you sometimes find yourself overthinking about, or dwelling on, unpleasant thoughts or experiences?
- Do you find it difficult to say how you really feel?
This list of questions isn’t exhaustive and there may be many other reasons why counselling could be helpful for you.
Making sure we’re the right service for you
Please do be aware that although our aim is to reduce the prevalence of male suicide within our community, we are not a crisis service. We know the importance of early intervention and want to get men talking more, before someone feels like they’ve run out of options. Our initial consultation is designed to assess the level of risk to ensure that the counselling we offer is suitable. If we think that a different service would be more beneficial, we’ll help signpost you to the right service. If you’re not sure whether or not you should apply, just let us know, and we’ll work alongside you to work out together whether our service is right for you. In the event of requiring emergency support, such as a plan to hurt yourself or others, please call 999, Samaritans or present yourself at any of the A&E departments of your local hospitals.
Waiting times
As the funding is intended to support a maximum of 100 men over a two-year period, depending on the number of applications we receive, there may be a waiting time before you have your initial consultation session and/or start your counselling sessions. We will endeavour to keep the wait as short as we possibly can.
How to apply
If you would like to apply for counselling with us via this route, please click the link below:
However, if you prefer to apply via our usual route, please click here for more details.
If you have any questions, please do get in touch via email at info@basingstokecounselling.org.uk or by phone at 01256 843125.
*Our funders
This project has been generously funded by the Big Give and a number of anonymous donors, without whom this project would not be possible.