By the Making Our Money Go Further team
Luke Brailswood set up the S62 Community Together Rotherham (Men’s Mental Health Group) Men’s Mental Health 4 years ago. He describes himself as a person who feels fulfilled in helping people. When he came across a lady who had lost her son to poor mental health leading to his death, he realised he had to help. He decided to set up a group that was solely for men who could find a safe space in talking about their feelings and problems instead of bottling them up and not sharing. Luke believes groups like this prevent people getting into bad situations. It also helps people who have just come out of a bad situation which affected their mental health in order to keep their mental health on track. He also feels the group relieves the NHS of some work due to the nature of the group being a prevention method for men wanting to harm themselves. It gives men a chance to not be lonely and form good friendships.
Luke said when he first set the group up in 2019, he would sit in a Costa every Thursday waiting for men to come and no one did until someone finally came after 3 months. Lukes’s determination has paid off as the group since grew and branched out with the help of RotherFed. There is also a Women’s Supporting Women’s group on Thursdays.
The group had a clear idea from the start about the sessions they wanted to do which they still deliver 3 years on. RotherFed started supporting the group more than 3 years ago and helped with a lot of emotional support, time, training, and networking opportunities. Before the group had its general meeting, RotherFed helped them in finding a venue and helped the group get constituted so they were able to apply for their own funding direct which RotherFed helped them to apply for. As well as this, RotherFed also helped fund them.
Credit has to be given to the founder members for identifying the need for this kind of support in their community and taking on the responsibility to deliver it. Their enthusiasm has led to more volunteers getting involved and offering their support to the group too.
This case study shows how people can deliver their vision with the help that is available from organisations such as RotherFed.
