Expert Trades has introduced the first episode of its mental health Podcast: MENTalk.
The majority of its community are male trades professionals, who are stereotypically ultramasculine, confident and full of playful banter. While this may sometimes be the case, they are also often isolated, stressed and struggling with their own mental health problems that they feel unable to share.
The MENTalk Podcast aims to challenge these stereotypes and provide support for our community by encouraging open and honest conversations about mental health. Men in particular are encouraged from a young age to suppress their emotions, meaning they often don’t seek out help for mental health issues when they need it. The topic has never been so important, with suicide being the most common cause of death for men aged 20-49 in the UK. For a man to express his feelings, there is a constant worry that this will be viewed as a sign of vulnerability, but we want to break the stigma and turn this into a sign of strength and a way to heal.
It all started when a member of Expert Trades’ community reached out into its private Facebook group to ask for places or people to turn to when struggling with depression, which led to a flood of supportive messages offering advice and kind words. This made the Expert Trades team consider what it could do to help its community on a more personal level, and the MENTalk Podcast was born.
Adam Callow, chief executive officer at Expert Trades, said: “You can sometimes forget that every member of our community is not solely a trades professional. They are business owners, husbands, wives, mums and dads; and running a small business whilst balancing life can be extremely challenging. I am extremely proud that members of our community wanted to use our podcast as a platform to tackle such an important topic and get more trades to speak up when they are struggling.”
The series will be hosted by a member of Expert Trades’ community, Steve Smith, who will then invite other members of Expert Trades along to discuss their own experiences with mental health.
Expert Trades hopes to encourage others to feel more comfortable about sharing how they are feeling, and influence them to find ways of managing their own mental health.
#MENTalk on iPhone or Android: https://linktr.ee/verifiedtrades
