Black Watch

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(L-R) Alex, Thomas and Chris think talking to people can help prevent suicide

suicide is the biggest killer of men under 45 years of age and over the whole of the UK, men are Three Times more likely than women to kill themselves.

To mark world suicide prevention day in 2019, Bbc Scotland has spoken, three men in very different walks of life, trying to battle on the Front line, the men's Mental Health .

Any claim that the Mental Health experts, but they all say they are on the rise, one conversation at a time.

The Barber Tommie McGuckin lives with bi-polar disorder

"I'm pretty open about my Mental Health , and people are sometimes shocked," says the 27-year-old Barber Tommie McGuckin.

"look at your Instagram and think it's all parties and unicorns, but the actual life is always like that. "

Tommie is an Ambassador for the lion's Barber collective, a network of British hairdressers, who come together to open safe places for men and awareness for suicide prevention.

He says: "There is a special bond between A Man and his Barber. A Man will tell his Barber things he wouldn't tell his Best Friend or his wife, but it is rare for someone to sit in your chair and get on the hunt.

"I think it is more to notice the little things, the kind of today, you seem a bit different and you can't get on with the finger, it is more the quirks. "

Working in the trendy Hard Grind hairdressers in Dundee, a tattoo-heavy totem is The City of the renaissance, Tommie and his team make it known to your customers that you are there to listen and cut Hair - in this order.

Tommie, lives with bi-polar disorder, has noticed a Big Difference in the ten years he was a Barber.

"I think the boys will open up more now, even if it is in a laddy way, you can convey to, they are not happy about something," he says.

"people hide their pain behind laughter in many areas of life, but guys come in here and be who you want to be.

"It's different, in the pub with your mates, where you open if you want to, about something, is there a way to ridicule, even if that is just how your pals with all the deal. "

Tommie says not to smash the target of the lion's Barber Collective " "the taboos, and cut through the macho-crap" to male suicide, and it is for a Reason -"talk about men's Mental Health is literally killing people".

The law enforcement officials, Alex Mcclintock has ' s club in Perth prison

Alex Mcclintock was minutes, to take his life, as his daughter called to say she loved him.

"let me stop and I tried to build things, the sky is always there," he says.

The 45-year-old Prison Officer who was first diagnosed with depression when he was barely crawling out of his youth, was something to unlock his own battles, when it came in the form of Andy man's Club.

The peer-to-peer support group for men was from former Rugby League player Luke Ambler after the death of his 23-year-old brother-in-law, Andy Roberts in the year 2016.

Initially only in the North of England, the weekly discussion group network in the whole of the UK.

Alex, along with fellow Prison Officer , Adam, Allison, brought it to Scotland, and you started at your workplace, HMP Perth .

The weekly meeting of the Andy-man-Club in Perth prison looks to take its members in possession of a ball, if you feel like speaking

"It started with six people turning up and we regularly receive 20 per week, all through mouth-to-mouth in prison," says Alex.

"you get a lot of them say, I want to tell something, but I don't know what it is, and that's fine. It tends to come with time and trust. "

Alex says he feels like a proud parent now that his group would facilitate their own meetings.

Alex and Adam to help run a string of community-based clubs and they say the only difference between the two is the grid in front of the Windows.

"could you bring the community group in this prison for a meeting and they would say the same answers, or calls," Alex. "We are All Human , but we all wear masks, so, if you do not come out, whether here or in the community, there is a lot between all of us. "

"The Group has to have a big part to my recovery and the guys are the same, if you have a meeting you missed to notice the difference," Alex.

"We have to stop people from killing themselves, I'm sure, but the effect is not immediate, you need to you can keep the conversations or people slip to go. "

"This club has changed My Life ' Lindsay Rodgers, says The Club has changed his life

A Man who has almost done biblically, about the difference of Andy man's Club, the former soldier, Lindsay Rodger.

Lindsay, who served with the Black Watch and the Special Forces that was sent to Perth prison earlier this year after a drink-fuelled catalogue of offences included attacking seven police officers.

The 37-year-old his Perth home and from the window of The Prison , but for now he is focused on dealing with the problems, took him behind bars.

"This club has changed My Life ," he says. "I describe it as like being in a Pressure Cooker and every encounter, every conversation, take the pressure down a notch. "

diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, Lindsay said, he had too long self-medicating with alcohol rather than with the Mental Health problems that resulted from his tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"It's like a release," he says. "The people around you may have different stories, but it is the same feelings or doubts. To listen "when Someone Else 's mouth is powerful, you don't know, it's Just You . "

The Pastor Reverend Chris Blackshaw 's role in agriculture is one of the five "pioneer contributions" to be tested by The Church of Scotland

"I'm a bit like Forrest Gump ," joked The Reverend Chris Blackshaw, ensconced on a wooden bench, the lively auction hall of Ayr cattle market.

"I'm just sitting on this bench, someone will come in and sit down, chat a bit, And Then someone comes. "

The Church of Scotland, says The First ever minister for agriculture, Mr Blackshaw, dedicated to his mission is simple - to listen.

The 58-year-old farmer, spent The First half of his life as a Police Officer , in Derbyshire, in what he says, turned out to be a good training for this gig.

Mr Blackshaw says, there have been four suicides in the space of Nine Months in the Ayrshire farming community and the opinion about the search for friends and family.

"in General, is The Conversation about agriculture, you have The First , but sometimes they go, how they feel," he says.

"Often, you have to go only to you, and it will flood. It is no secret, for the vast majority of the people, all of you just want someone to talk to. The devastation Left Behind [by suicide] is a rule, behind closed doors, in agriculture, but it is brutal, and we all need to do more to stop. "

Mr Blackshaw's credibility as what he calls a "human sponge", with a conservative farmer in Ayrshire, is the result of his own agricultural background. He owns a 20-acre cattle and pig farm in Cumbria, run by his wife, Jan.

"agriculture can be very rewarding, but it is hard and life is often very isolated, miles from other people," he says.

"I got to know, the vets told me that they often return to farms, not to look at The Animals , but to ensure that the farmers are in order. "

Mr Blackshaw's home-visits are often the result of a quiet word from a concerned friend or neighbor, but, he says, he rides slightly dam.

He says: "I'm not welcome on farms, where they will not openly say that they believe in God, but say, 'come back and See Me ?' That's brilliant, you Take Me as I Am , and that means a lot to me.

"I had home visit last week, a farmer who has a little bit of depression, and really, he humiliated me, he said: 'you will never understand how much your visits mean to me'. "

Information and advice

If you or someone you know is struggling with issues raised by this story, by found you support.

barbers, depression, suicide prevention, mental health

Source of news: bbc.com