THE wealth of support available for those feeling lonely or isolated is being highlighted by Copeland Borough Council all this month.

As part of their campaign to raise awareness, the group Mind Ya Marras has been featured.

This is a group for men to come and feel safe to open up about their thoughts, feelings and troubles, and meet at the Mirehouse Community Centre every Monday at 7pm.

Gavin Cattanach, a volunteer for the group, and said: “There is the assumption that men don’t talk about their feelings.

“There’s also this horrible adage that tells men to ‘man up’.

“We have found, however, that the myth that men do not talk about their feelings is untrue. When provided with the space to do so, men really have no trouble opening up.

“It’s wrongly seen as ultimately just a man thing to not talk about things.

“At the group, we just have a laugh, we just talk openly and I think that makes people feel open and safe.

“The suicide rate for men is so high as well, but talking about whatever is troubling you can be a really great help.”

In the UK, the male suicide rate is its lowest since 1981 – 15.5 deaths per 100,000. But suicide is still the single biggest killer of men under the age of 45, and a marked gender split remains.

For UK women, the rate is a third of men’s: 4.9 suicides per 100,000, and it’s the same in many other countries.

Compared to women, men are three times more likely to die by suicide in Australia, 3.5 times more likely in the US and more than four times more likely in Russia and Argentina.

The World Health Organisation’s data show that nearly 40% of countries have more than 15 suicide deaths per 100,000 men; only 1.5% show a rate that high for women.

There are several suggested ways to approach this, one approach similar to Mind Ya Marras is the “shoulder-to-shoulder principle” – encouraging men to talk while otherwise occupied, like watching football or going for a bike ride; and ‘Mates in Construction’, a training and support programme, raises awareness of high suicide rates in the building trade and shows construction workers how they can help be part of the solution.