Sort Your Head Out: Mental health without all the bollocks

Product Information

Ben wishes Labour would be more bold with fresh policies to capture the public imagination. Also pond update, the actors strike's unseen UK impact and listener correspondence. In 2018 I had a complete nightmare, losing my radio show and TV show within a couple of months of each other. Shortly afterwards, my production company descended into a state of financial pandemonium and all sorts of professional and deeply personal conflict ensued. I was miserable, exhausted and scared of the future. I had been sober for three years and, despite the prevailing chaos, I wasn’t once tempted to throw myself off the wagon. I figured however bad things seemed, my mental health would be a great deal worse with a hangover. Mind you, this was the first big test I had faced since I quit drink. Its starts, as many of its ilk, with the author hitting the low point. However, being pissed at the darts and holding up a sign that asks his wife to marry him does not particularly sound like a real nadir. It was - like a lot of the book - quite amusing though. We are then introduced to traumas large and small in his life. Its interesting. Raised by a single parent in relative poverty, whilst the other parent swanned around in a Bentley. There's quite a lot of this duality at play in the book. It is possible to be a blokey bloke, but be educated. Rich and down to earth etc. 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. 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.

Sam also hosts The Reset, a podcast in which he chats to guests about mental health, addiction, recovery and all that sort of stuff. What else did people do to sort their heads out when numbing the senses with drugs and alcohol were off the table? Meditation? Yoga? These things work a treat for millions but, to be honest, I just wasn’t into it at that stage of my life. I was frantic, strung out. I couldn’t sleep. I felt pretty lost and alone at times. Liked the look of this one and Sam Delaney (Journalist, podcaster, editor) looks like someone to investigate more. A nationwide network of men’s groups that meet every Monday night at 7pm to chat about how they’re getting on. 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.By the time I was in my late 30s I was struggling to cope with the combined pressures of work, family and socialising – and had started to self-medicate with alcohol.

For many middle-aged blokes like me, masculinity is still all about beer, banter and a stiff upper lip. We went to comprehensive schools, and I was the first in the family to go to university. The world I grew up in was one of beer, banter and football. We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.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. A funny, wise and above all valuable book. An arm around your shoulder from your next best friend— Danny Wallace Ben and Mat chat IRL on a range of important and engaging subjects including making fake phone calls, talking to yourself and sprint triathlons.