HELPING THE HELPERS
How to Listen so Men will Talk - A Book Review
There are many published books that talk about mental health for men , including a few that are self-help books . In this issue we would like to share the guidebook , ' How to Listen so Men will Talk ' by Tom Chapman . The book was published near the end of 2022 and was written to guide people who want to support men suffering from mental health issues to prevent potential suicide attempts .
The author , Tom Chapman , wrote the book as the founder of the Lions Barber Collective , a suicide prevention charity specifically for men . He believes , as a barber , men speak more to him about their mental health issues than they would to a therapist . This experience has helped him learn more about how to approach men about their mental health issues and prevent them from doing anything drastic . He highlights this in his book .
As the title suggests , ' How to Listen so Men Will Talk ' serves as a guidebook that directly addresses readers who want to learn more about what to do or even what not to do to allow men to open up about their mental health . This book is one of the few that addresses readers who want to learn more about men ' s mental health and how to help . Chapman narrows down how someone can help a male figure in the person ’ s life through 4 steps , keeping in mind circumstances as well as relationships .
' How to Listen so Men will Talk ' begins with an explanation about what mental health is and how complex it can be , outlining the symptoms and subtle indicators that one might have a mental health disorder . Chapman makes a point to help the reader understand if someone needs help .
After the introduction Chapman moves on to the first step which is recognising someone who is silently suffering mentally , emotionally or socially . He teaches the reader how they would recognise someone suffering mentally and how to be more observant without being too obvious about it . Steps 2 to 4 give more active advice which consists of Ask , Listen and Help . Chapman breaks down these steps to be clearer for the reader on how he would approach a man who typically wouldn ' t want to talk about his problems .
The end of the book summarises all the key information and gives a final encouragement for the reader going over the 4 steps , as well as listing some helplines with their phone numbers and websites .
16 MENTION IT ISSUE 1