Motor Cycle News: new mental health first aiders in 2022
As seen on MCN: Set-up in March 2020, MHM offers face-to-face and online mental health support and officially became a recognised charity at the end of 2021. They now want to establish a strong network of first aiders to provide free support for other riders and get people the professional help they require.
“You’re not becoming a therapist, or a councillor, you’re becoming somebody that’s tuned into poor mental health and the issues around mental health,” Oxborough continued.
“What it also does is give you a very good toolkit for dealing with people that present themselves in crisis.”
The organisation has already put 116 bikers through the training, with a bursary fund available to help finance the course where needed. Alongside this, they also want to break down the stigma attached to mental health and show people it’s okay to talk.
“I’m 52-years-old and my generation was told ‘you don’t show your feelings, you don’t show your weaknesses – you’re a man,'” Paul added. “Words like ‘man up’ or ‘get a grip’ are not particularly helpful when dealing with people’s problems.”
But it’s not just men of Paul’s generation getting involved. He continued: “We’ve created a very diverse biker group. It’s young people, older riders, males, females, people from the LGBTQ+ community and we’ve brought all these people together in one space.”
Keep CALM and raise cash: £25,000 needed for mental health
For 2021, Royal Enfield have been working with the Campaign Against Living Miserably to ‘open it up’ and increase the amount of conversations we all have around positive mental health. CALM was set up to help people struggling with mental health, particularly men for whom finding support can be a struggle.
The stats alone are enough to shock with 125 people a week taking their own lives and of that 75% are men. It’s become so bad that suicide is the biggest killer of males under 45. CALM have set up a helpline and last year they spoke to someone who was struggling every 66 seconds.
More importantly still, they directly prevented 564 suicides. But CALM don’t want to be the last place that people turn, they want to improve the situation for everyone through frontline services, national campaigns and building support communities.
Harley-Davidson UK shares bikers’ insights how biking can help with mental health
A short series of six videos produced by Harley-Davidson UK highlight how riding a motorbike can help with mental wellbeing. Watch them all here:
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