Separately, Real Housewives of Cheshire’s Ester Dee liked my Instagram comment about Piers Morgan being a bellend, and Love Island’s Dr Alex George replied about a potential book tour. (COVID willing, if you were wondering.) That’s about as eventful as it gets.Knocked down the old outhouse this week pic.twitter.com/qX36bR7TAf
— Matt Tuckey (@matthewtuckey) February 28, 2021
Matt Tuckey is a writer from Oldham, England. He covers celebrities, night life, Manchester, fitness, creative writing, social media, psychology and events. Some of this may, in some way, help others. Or maybe it'll just entertain you for a while.
Sunday, 28 February 2021
Built Like a Brick Shithouse
Saturday, 27 February 2021
Mentell Mondays
For a lot of people, Mondays might not conjure an image of relief, security or openness, but for a growing number of men it’s the time of the week to address their problems and share their experiences.
Mentell provides online circles for men aged 18+ to talk in a safe and confidential space, free from advice and judgement. The webcam-based charity meet on Monday nits, 7pm. All that’s needed is a link from head office, and you’re ready to go.
I’ve blogged frequently about Andy’s Man Club, a group with a much bigger attendance and social media following, that I’ve been a member of now for 3 years. (Coincidentally, their meetings are the exact same time.) During the pandemic they have also held webcam meetings in place of face-to-face, but these were stopped some weeks ago and in-person meetings were brought back. I’ve personally not felt ready to head out to these, but I have recently stumbled on Mentell. (Say what you like about social media, but it has brought people together and has been a lifeline for many during the pandemic.)
I’ll describe the setup here, but obviously not the content of the meeting, which was confidential. On Monday I logged into the meeting (link provided in an email). The group was split into smaller circles: we were assigned a ‘breakout room’- a new Zoom link, and once the group was settled we were asked to grade our mood on a scale of 1-10. A few ground rules were ran over- describe your own thoughts, but don’t give advice- say ‘I,’ not ‘you’- no discussion of politics and religion (argument-starters in any case, more than anything) nor medication (no-one is in the meeting on a medical capacity).
From that point on, we just aired any life problems we might have. The 2-hour session brought together men of all ages and backgrounds, from across the UK.
A reassuring, secure and friendly bunch. Find your circle.