Saturday's match against Newport County has been designated a Male Mental Health Focus Game as the club works in partnership with Andy's Man Club Exeter.
We are supporting Andy's Man Club in order to continue the conversation about male mental health, encouraging men to get talking and raise awareness of the support that is available to them. We want you to know that #ItsOkayToTalk.
Players will wear special Andy's Man Club t-shirts during the warm ups and their branding will be shown throughout the day on our LED pitchside boards, and we will continue to keep the conversation going across thr website and social media channels.
The man behind SJP360, Zandie Thornton, told his own mental health story, which you can see here.
Here is the Andy's Man Club Story 👇
In mid-2016, nine men met in a small room in the archetypal Yorkshire town of Halifax with a simple aim of talking through their issues and helping each other deal with their mental health. All in attendance were agreed there was a magic in that room that had to be shared. This was the start of a movement that has grown faster than anyone first involved could have ever imagined. Fast forward 5 years and ANDYSMANCLUB now has groups at over 40 locations across three constituent countries of the United Kingdom.
ANDYSMANCLUB takes its name from Andrew Roberts, a man who sadly took his own life aged 23 in early 2016. Andy’s family had no inkling that he was suffering or struggling to the extent that he would do this, and as a result looked deeper into male suicide and men’s mental health. They soon discovered that male suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50, with Male Mental Health surrounded by well-ingrained cultural stigma in the UK. Elaine Roberts and Luke Ambler are Andy’s Mum and Brother-in-Law, together they came up with the idea of ANDYSMANCLUB, a group where men aged 18 and above can speak openly about their mental health in a judgment-free, non-clinical environment. Groups now operate nationwide and are completely volunteer-led, with the vast majority of group facilitators having first interacted with ANDYSMANCLUB when they came through the door as a service user. With the service used on a weekly basis by over 1,000 men, and an army of over 200 volunteers on board, the movement is continuing to grow on a week by week basis. Groups are available both in Exeter and in and around South Wales and are completely free to attend, details of how to attend are below.
To attend ANDYSMANCLUB, drop us an email - info@andysmanclub.co.uk.
Visit andysmanclub.co.uk for more information or find them on social media:
Twitter: @AndysManClubEXT
Facebook: Andy's Man Club
Instagram: @andysmanclub
Speaking of the partnerhsip for Saturday's game, an Andy's Man Club spokesperson said: “ANDYSMANCLUB are delighted to be partnering with Exeter City and Newport County to put a spotlight on mental health during their fixture on April 24th.
"Both clubs are long-term supporters of mental health and with recent events that have taken place both in and out of the world of sport, it is a hugely important time to raise awareness of Mental Health and the support that is available to people.”
Remember #ItsOkayToTalk