“I’m more likely to die by my own hands than I am from a road traffic accident or prostate cancer, which are more commonly talked about, and there’s lots of campaigns around those. So we need to do the same with suicide and mental health, particularly in men, and normalise that conversation” – Alex McClintock

This quote from Alex McClintock, from our recent National Suicide & Prevention Conference, highlights a stark statistic. Suicide remains the leading cause of death in men under 54 in the UK. It is important to make a distinction between the approach to mental health between men and women because in the UK, men make up around 75% of suicides.

Whether through societal norms, toxic masculinity or a lack of resources, the support available or taken from men regarding mental health and suicidal thoughts may be partially responsible for the stark difference in suicide rates between men and women.

Alex is the Head of Partnerships North at #ANDYSMANCLUB, a charity that was set up in 2016 after Andy Roberts took his own life by suicide. Devastated by their loss, his brother-in-law, Luke Ambler and Andy’s mother set up the club in response – hoping to help other people to not make that choice, saving lives and protecting families from the pain they felt. The charity runs coffee clubs, designed to be a low stakes, relaxed environment where men can go and discuss, or just listen in on conversations about mental health and wellbeing. For Andy’s Man Club, it’s about creating an environment that feels relaxed, where the attendees feel comfortable to discuss their challenges, to receive support, advice and to feel like they’re not alone in their battles.

In the UK, around 12 men take their own life every day. That’s one person every two hours, or 86 men a week. Following Andy’s death, Luke decided that if he could create safe spaces for these men, it would help them to open up about the challenges they’ve been facing and realise that they weren’t alone in their fight.

“If Andy and other men had somewhere to go and talk about the stuff they were going through, they would realise that the issues they were facing were temporary, and they could actually get through them, and they wouldn’t have to go away and make a permanent decision like suicide.” – Alex McClintock

It’s about showing people that suicide isn’t the only option.

The Rise of Andy’s Man Club

Back in 2016, Andy’s Man Club started out as a Facebook post, which saw 9 people attend the first meeting. Two weeks later, the “It’s Okay To Talk” campaign was born, which Luke posted on Twitter. After being picked up by some high profile accounts in the rugby league, it is now recognised as being one of the biggest mental health campaigns on the planet, with over 100 million people sharing a selfie with the statement “It’s Okay To Talk”.

One of the biggest celebrities to support the campaign was the comedian Ricky Gervais. Alex believes that his support on the campaign was massive in helping Andy’s Man Club to take off. These campaigns are excellent opportunities to normalise the conversation around suicide and mental health and to try and shift the narrative away from the harmful masculine trope of stoically dealing with things alone, or hiding your emotions, putting on a “brave face” or finding release in harmful ways like substance abuse.

Alex was working for the Scottish Prison Service at the time, working in the gym. Whilst working on the physical health of men there, he noted that there was nowhere near enough mental health support at the prison. He saw what Andy’s Man Club was doing and decided to bring it up to the prison:

“We brought it back up to Scotland, and actually had our first meeting inside Perth Prison, and then two weeks later, opened it up in the community. And it’s just grown from there. My journey’s continued to grow from being a facilitator, to a trustee, to now a staff member. And it’s all because of that one picture of Ricky Gervais.” – Alex McClintock

The “It’s Okay To Talk” campaign and the reception it received is a fantastic idea of how social media can be such a powerful tool for pushing positivity. Charities across the UK could look at the success of this campaign and think about how they could use free, organic communication on social sites to push positive messages or ideas.

The charity played into the popularity of the campaign online by getting sportsmen involved in the early days. Popular names like Anthony Joshua, Kallum Watkins, Josh Warrington and more. They were all happy to talk about their own vulnerabilities through injuries, defeats, training camps, that they would experience through their social media platforms to help them encourage the conversation around men’s mental health. This can be massively powerful in helping men to understand that the mental health challenges they are facing do not make them alienated. It’s all about making people realise that they are not alone in their fights.

“When guys like that get involved, people tend to listen.” – Alex McClintock

In the workplace, strategies to support staff with mental health challenges can be the difference between an employee who can still be comfortable at work and one who has to step away from the workplace. Creating an environment of understanding, respect and care can make such a difference in the life of someone who is struggling mentally. With that in mind, Government Events is hosting the Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace Conference 2026. Find out more here.

How Andy’s Man Club Works

The club meets every Monday. Having the consistency of meeting every week allows people to start a routine that they can stick to and more importantly, look forward to. A major benefit of this is the stability of meeting once a week, at the same time and place. Sometimes, simply having a place where you are expected to be week on week can help massively. Importantly, there are no bookings or costs attached to attending. Through removing the frictions related to booking, or paying, it makes the clubs far more accessible.

When you arrive at the club meeting, you’ll be greeted by a voluntary facilitator, whose goal it is to get you through the door, as many people arrive, talk themselves out of it and then go home. For many, this might be the first time they admit that they need support.

“They’ve all been there. They know exactly how hard that first step is, and we just want to help you through the door and make it a wee bit easier.” – Alex McClintock

Importantly at the meetings, there is no pressure to share. You can just sit and listen, which can be equally helpful in helping you to understand that you aren’t alone in your thoughts and that other people feel similar to you.

It’s easy to understand why this works so well – Andy’s Man Club creates an atmosphere that is relaxed, with no pressure, expectations or requirements. A lot of traditional treatments for mental health can be clinical, with schedules, payments, etc. By meeting over coffee, in a place local to you, there is a layer of comfort which you’ll never get in a therapist’s office or the hospital. That isn’t to say that Andy’s Man Club will provide the same level of care as hospitals or therapy, and it isn’t trying to – it’s about creating a place where men can feel heard, connected and blend important discussions with socialisation and enjoyment.
The club is a great place to socialise, with many of the groups organising local activities like coffee shop chats, walks, pool nights or quiz nights. This helps to create a sense of community and reduce loneliness, which can be severely damaging to people with mental health issues.

During a Meeting

When at a meeting, conversation is held via a huge stress ball, and whoever is holding the ball is the speaker. If you receive the ball but don’t want to chat, you can just throw it on. The sessions run through 5 simple questions, which helps to keep the conversation on track. the first 3 questions are always the same, and occur before a break:

• How’s your week been?
• One positive from your week?
• Anything to get off your chest?

These 3 questions work because it allows people to open up about their week, get positive affirmations from question 2 and get something off their chest. This could be something that is bugging them, an argument they had, something they’re guilty about, etc.

After these 3 questions, they have a break. Alex said that during these breaks you hear a lot of conversations where people provide support or opinions on issues, or provide resources they’ve used in the past. Alex used the term brotherhood and that sums it up perfectly. It’s a space where men can come together and feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves.

The last two questions change week on week, and they are based upon getting attendees to think about more positive stuff. Question 4 could be a goal-setting question or a reflective question to see how far you’ve come on your journey. Question 5 is usually a bit more light-hearted, like what’s your favourite dad joke or favourite sandwich topping. This is important as it allows the meetings to end on a lighter note and can help cool off the pressure in the room.

There are 350 community groups across England, Scotland and Wales, with around 6,700 men attending each week. You could see the pride Alex felt for this, and the amount of lives potentially saved through this is truly incredible. The club only plans on getting larger, with more and more communities being set up.

Andy’s Man Club also hosts online sessions, which started during COVID but they kept going. There are around 100 people attending week-on-week from home, which is useful for people who might not be able to, or are not comfortable meeting in real life.

The work done by Andy’s Man Club and its staff is truly incredible. The set-up of the meetings is perfect, creating a relaxed environment where connection is easy and collaboration is optional. It makes the support accessible, peer-led, and supports people to not feel alone, alienated or scared to receive help. In terms of mental health support, people can learn from the atmosphere created at these events. If the entry to support feels too clinical, confusing or challenging to set-up, people will feel far less inclined to reach out, and that could be the difference between someone living or dying.

“Our Why is to stop other families going through what Andy’s family went through, that loss and devastation that’s left behind by suicide. And we want to encourage the next generation to open up and talk about it.” –  Alex McClintock

We’d like to thank Alex McClintock for his incredible session and #ANDYSMANCLUB for their attendance at the event. Each and every speaker we had at the conference was inspirational in their own ways and the event was a powerful day of learning and collaborating, moving towards a collective goal of a world where there is always another option.