Meet the Manbassadors

Hi! I’m Adam – I’m the Project Lead for Bolton Manbassadors and a Community Development Officer for Bolton at Home.

If you're feeling down, alone, not your usual self, want something to do but don’t know where to start- it’s ok. I’ve been there too.

Bolton Manbassadors can help.

We have loads of info for men about what you can get involved in and what support is out there for you. I know it can feel weird/overwhelming asking for support but it might just be the first step to something positive.

So whether you're a male who would like to talk or a business wanting to become a Manbassador - please get in touch with me on:

• Email: boltonmanbassadors@boltonathome.org.uk
• Or call/text on: 07787337474

Hi! I’m Andy Farnworth – I'm the founder and lead facilitator of Transforming Lives Group.

We're a standalone, not-for profit community group based in Farnworth. At present, we deliver activities six days a week supporting people who may be struggling with issues such as mental health, addiction, or any other underlying issues or day-to-day problems.

We also provide activities for over 50s which are aimed at reducing poor health, loneliness, and providing safe spaces to socialise, meet new people, or just get people out of the house. All our activities are based around fun, friendship, and exercise and include walking football, open age football, boxing sessions, ‘Meet & Eat’ social eating, fishing, bike riding, snooker, and walking groups.

I wanted to get involved with Manbassadors as I'm a big believer in helping others and have lifelong experience in and around mental health and other underlying issues. I wanted to give something back to the community of Bolton and men's mental health.

Raising awareness of men's mental health is paramount in our community. Suicide and self-harm is at a current all-time high with the professional services overstretched and people on long waiting lists/ not getting any support or advice they need.

The Manbassadors project is making a difference to men's mental health in our community as it makes it easy to access friendly and welcoming support- no matter your situation.

As a Manbassador, I'm a mentor, a listener, and I'll provide safe spaces for men to attend with 100% confidentiality- whatever their situation- and can direct the individual to other services which might benefit their situation.

Since joining the Manbassadors project, I've grown our network with other services in Bolton and surrounding areas and have been involved in men's groups in person and virtually. It’s definitely been beneficial for me and our participants have a wider range of support than we did before joining the Manbassadors project.

Hi! My name's Georgina (pictured, furthest right) and me and the team at Broad Oaks Nursery wanted to get involved with Bolton Manbassadors because we understand the importance of positive mental health and we want to help support this in the children we care for and their families.

Broad Oaks Nursery is a children's nursery in Farnworth. We care and educate children from the age of two to five years old.

I first heard about Bolton Manbassadors when a friend of mine committed suicide and I wanted to help reduce the risk of further male suicides in our area.

We want men to feel valued, without stigma. We promote positive mental health with our children in nursery by using Emotion Coaching. This gives our children the language to address their feelings and to express these without oppression.

We want the families of our children to understand that although life has its challenges, there are people out there who want to help. We have a lot of families within our community so we felt we could help.

Bolton Manbassadors helps us to help others. It gives us a framework of support and provides vital signposting opportunities for all different needs.

The project has definitely helped us to maintain positive and open discussions around mental health. It's helping our children to become adults with skills on how to address and express their feelings to others- and we feel this is essential in helping tackle the problem at hand.

Hi! I’m Shaun and I’m the Vice Chair of Great Lever Connected (GLC).

GLC is a community centre based in Great Lever and run entirely by volunteers. We’re led by the needs of the community to help improve the health and wellbeing of local people.

Many of us have suffered during the enforced lockdown caused by the Covid pandemic, and so GLC have begun to address these issues by bringing the community together and arranging projects/events as required by the community.

I personally suffer from depression and have been fortunate to be able talk to friends who supported me until I received the help I needed. I’m unable to work for medical reasons and my counsellors agreed that I needed to find new interests to fill my time- so, I decided to give back to the community that supported me.

This eventually brought me to GLC and subsequently the opportunity to become a Manbassador, creating the potential to help other men by providing local people with a place to turn for peer-to-peer support/guidance.

Being a Manbassador means that we’re all part of a community of people and organisations looking to help men avoid suicide and create safe venues where men can talk freely. It’s important that we are good listeners and only offer support and guidance when it’s sought. We offer genuine friendship.

Since becoming a Manbassador, we’ve been able to tap into a growing network of like-minded people. We can talk freely about mental health and are able to see quickly where and when wellbeing-related events are taking place in the region (or virtually).

By being a Manbassador, we can help those who need help to identify where and when they can go to discuss their mental health in a non-intimidating environment. We offer a safe space where men can come and have a brew and a chat, discuss their needs, or simply come and sit in a warm comfortable place and have some quiet time. We ensure that we always have Manbassadors leaflets available and in plain sight and Manbassador signposting is also visible in all our rooms on the ground floor. This allows us to send the message that we’re here if we’re needed.

You'll find all our current Manbassadors using the map above. Just tap on a star to view details about each one.

We'll keep this up to date as more organisations sign up to become Manbassadors.

Interested in becoming a Manbassador (as an organisation) or pledging to support the project as an individual? Tap here to learn more on the Manbassadors page.