Man Club: Four things to improve mental health support and awareness in Jersey

To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, Express has been speaking to local charities and organisations about things they believe could be changed to promote better understanding of mental illness in Jersey.

This year, the national week – which runs from Monday 12 to Sunday 18 May – is focussed on the theme of community.

Mental Health Awareness Week aims to shine a light on the broad spectrum of mental health conditions that can affect individuals of all ages, and how society can bring people together in times of hardship, to improve wellbeing, support and recovery.

This week, we have already heard from My Voice, Mind Jersey, the Jersey Samaritans, and ADHD Jersey. Today, Matt Falla, founder of support group Man Club, shared his thoughts around current attitudes to mental health in Jersey and the existing support on offer…

1. Mental health is not just a negative 

In Jersey specifically, I would say to a certain degree, that we stop talking about mental health as if it’s something that is acute, and rather something we all have.  

If we’re talking about breathing, some people have asthma and they’ve got trouble breathing and others have emphysema – but we all breathe and we all have issues with our mental health at some point. 

We also all have times of incredible mental health, for example if you’ve been lucky enough to fall in love.

So, I think we should stop associating mental health with only a negative context. 

2. Support before crisis 

I’d like our support services to not just rely upon moments of crisis, and that we support all islanders before they ever need it.  

We should create an environment in the island of connection and community where suicide is not an option anymore, because we’re living in a kind of empathetic society where we consider the impact of our actions on everyone around us. 

3. Education and access to healthy living

We need to exercise and sport accessible to all.

There should not be a monetary or fiscal barrier to exercising and healthy living, the same can be said with food.

The fact that a large proportion of our island is putting poor, cheap food into themselves because of the cost, or the lack of education around how to cook that food has knock-on effects.

They are absolutely fundamental. 

4. Invest in alternative therapy 

We should have a vested interest in alternative ways of therapy, with the island considering different ways of looking after the population.  

We have a large number of incredible entrepreneurs on the island using experimental treatments that could actually be a godsend for individuals that are struggling.

So, we should embrace the things that are being created and bring other things to the island that we think are going to have benefits. 

We should be bold enough to offer those options to people, because if you’re at an acute level where suicide is an option, believe me, you will try everything, so we should give it a go.