TH E BU SI N E S S M E N ’ S M E N TA L H E A LT H
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ccording to the Mental Health Foundation (MHF), three times as many men as women die by suicide, are dependent on alcohol or report frequent drug use. Men report lower levels of life satisfaction, and 87% of rough sleepers are male. Men are also less likely to access psychological therapies. However, they do seem to open up in the barber’s chair – and barbers, in partnership with mental health charities, are doing their best to listen and help.
brother-in-law to suicide seven years ago. ‘No one expected it,’ she says. ‘People in that position don’t want you to know how they’re feeling. His death rocked the community.’ Charlotte is now raising money for the Campaign Against Living
Miserably (CALM) and donated 10% of the shop’s profits from 21 June to 31 July. ‘Our area has seen a number of male suicides in the past few months, the most recent of which was a barber,’ she says. ‘That gave us the push to do it.’
Opening up Charlotte Reakes, co-owner of Lockup Barbers in Westfield, Somerset, lost her
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World Mental Health Day is on 10 October, and some of the UK’s barbers are playing an important role in tackling the men’s mental health crisis.
BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS WORDS STEVE SMETHURST
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