Sort Your Head Out: Mental health without all the bollocks

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And while being posh or rich doesn’t protect you from mental illness, being working class definitely puts you more at risk.

Irreverent and accessible discussions about politics, current affairs and various social issues, as well as the inanities of life, mental health and other shit. Each episode we aim to have a subject up for discussion as a starting point, before veering off course and chatting about whatever’s on our minds. Sometimes we bring guests on to facilitate the discussion, to offer a different perspective or to discuss their work. This is a great book, and an important one. It's the one I would give to any friend who I observed struggling with those issues, as it's written in a genuinely human way, devoid of psychobabble, moralizing, victimhood embracing and judgement. It comes from a place of hard-won experience, told with total honesty. It will do more than just save lives, it will help those saved lives feel like they're genuinely worth living— Irvine Welsh I had a breakdown late 2006, early 2007 when I simply burnt out and my brain just closed down, after bringing up two families due to the early death of my father. Lots of the information in the book resonates with me, especially dealing with toxic people and recognising universe intervention.A network of anonymous, non-clinical groups for blokes to connect, talk and listen on a regular basis. Every Monday at 6.30pm for men in the UK and online globally.

In other words, we shouldn’t be blaming working-class lads for not wanting to get involved in the soft and cuddly language of mental health.

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They keep it all inside and that only makes it worse. There are still old-fashioned ideas on what it means to be a tough, strong man that exists across all social classes.” Ad and Rob are joined by polymath, brilliant footballer, writer and broadcaster Pat Nevin for a thoroughly enjoyable chat for which we had loads ... Ben and Mat chat IRL on a range of important and engaging subjects including making fake phone calls, talking to yourself and sprint triathlons. If word got round that I was seeing a shrink, I thought they would see me as weak, or a nut job or – worst of all– a whinger. But when he reached his thirties, work, relationships and fatherhood started to take their toll. Like so many blokes who seemed to be totally fine, he often felt like a complete failure whose life was out of control; anxiety and depression had secretly plagued him for years. Turning to drink and drugs only made things worse. Sam knew he needed help - the problem was that he thought self-help was for hippies, sobriety was for weirdos and therapy was for neurotics.

Joining Rob and Adam on this episode of the Halcyon Podcast is two-time William Hill Sports Book of the Year and THREE-time Sports Interviewer of... Men in particular struggle to talk about their mental and emotional struggles: this book reaches out to them without any of the psychobabble that might scare them away. They’re community spaces for men to connect, converse and create. The activities are often similar to those of garden sheds, but for groups of men to enjoy together. They help reduce loneliness and isolation, but most importantly, they’re fun. So many of the things he describes going on his head are so relatable and make you feel like you’re really not alone in all of it. Rob and Adam are joined by Simon Hart, author of the fabulous 'World in Motion: The Inside Story of Italia 90' and 'Against All Odds' contributor...

I have followed Sam for awhile now via his Podcasts and newsletter. The book is informative, funny and straightforward to read.

This really spoke to me about addiction, fatherhood, and the amount of unnecessary pressure we put ourselves under trying to become someone else's version of male success rather than our authentic self. For many middle-aged blokes like me, masculinity is still all about beer, banter and a stiff upper lip.Between the 1960s and the 1980s some of the most influential men in the country spent most of the day in the pub and got paid more than the Prime Minister. Sam Delaney poignantly, brutally and at times, sadly, melancholically gives a candid account of a bloke who has been through the ringer of drink and drugs, and come out the other side as a successful, happy, hilariously funny family man. Then I did something that was pretty alien to me. I started to own up to the fact that I was struggling. I went to a group called Andy’s Man Club where blokes meet every Monday night for a chinwag about life, all the shit it can throw at you and all the beauty that’s to be found in it too. It helped. I started chatting to mates about what I was going through and the things I was worried about. I was stunned by their empathy. Next, I started writing about this sort of stuff. A couple of articles in the newspaper about my own little struggles: the drinking, the anxiety, the childhood stuff I’d never quite shaken off. I’d been writing for years but never with much honesty about myself. I like making people laugh and found it was easy to use humour as a means of distracting from self-reflection. Thankfully, more positive role models are emerging who are showing you can be successful AND vulnerable. I told myself that football was my hobby. But going to football was always as much about getting twatted as it was watching the game. Similarly, playing Monday-night five-a-side was only a ritual we endured prior to the post-match beers.