A journey spreading kindness for Men’s Mental Health – fishing (…and now football!) with JourneyMAN CIC in Merseyside

Darren Birch at the Angling Trust describes the community partnership work happening with the North West Angling Academy and Journey Men CIC in Merseyside.

Recently, while working on event delivery with the North West Angling Association, I met an organisation they partner with called JourneyMEN CIC.

Each week, Anne and Des at JourneyMEN CIC activate a number of social activities for men’s mental health, including weekly sea fishing and coaching in sea angling on the River Mersey, plus things like walking and talking, or ‘mood walking’, and meeting for a warm drink plus importantly, One-to-One personal support. This is a great opportunity for men in the local community to share time together and enjoy all the health and wellbeing benefits that spending time fishing bring. The project helps reduce social isolation and loneliness and can rehabilitate people who have been ill with mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.

JourneyMEN CIC run a number of weekly social activities for men’s mental health on the Wirral

Des, (pictured – main image) and Ann deliver Level 2 Coaching with the belief in the potential of anyone suffering with mental health issues. The kindness shown means every man who goes on a journey with JourneyMen CIC gets a tailored approach to enjoy social activities like sea fishing but also personal support.

Fishing with JourneyMEN

JourneyMEN are working with many local professional organisations like the North West Angling Academy so that men receive the specialist care that they deserve tailored to each individual.

There are some brilliant local fishing spots on the Mersey

JourneyMEN’s mission is to save and rebuild men’s lives that would otherwise be lost in a mental health crisis. They recommend people get active and get healthy both physically and mentally and have seen that regular physical activity has many benefits for both physical and mental well-being. This can be going for a walk, jog or run, a swim at local swimming baths and even going fishing!

A famous skyline… and fishing!

They say:

“Too often men in mental health crises find it difficult to access local service provision that meets their individual need in a timely manner. In many cases the consequence of falling through gaps in service provision leads to overstretched A&E departments and the criminal justice system picking up the pieces – resulting in unsatisfactory outcomes for men and immense cost within the health and judicial systems. In the most tragic cases the cost can be counted in lives lost to death by suicide. At JourneyMEN we are on a mission to change that.”
“Recreational activities are so often key in our men’s wellbeing and we are collaborating with a number of community organisations like Wirral Environment Network and Tranmere Rovers for walking football, gardening, sea fishing and many other social activities.“

Success!

UPDATE: At the moment, during the World Cup JourneyMEN will be offering Chit & Chat sessions in its main office in Birkenhead so that everyone can watch the England matches with the comfort of its sofas with biscuits and brews! If want to attend any of the various JourneyMEN events check out their social media for details and drop them an email or call 0151 792 9159.

Smiles all round with fishing and JourneyMEN!

Darren

Darren Birch, Regional Angling Development Officer, North West England

JourneyMEN CIC can be contacted via its website at www.journeymencic.com or
Facebook: www.facebook.com/JourneyMENcic
Instagram: www.instagram.com/journeymencic
Twitter:twitter.com/JourneyMENcic

North West Angling Academy can be contacted via 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/221959386418084
Twitter: www.obile.twitter.com/accademyangling
Instagram: www.instagram.com/nwaafishing4all

The Get Fishing campaign to get more people fishing more often is funded by the Environment Agency from fishing licence income as part of the National Angling Strategic Services contract with the Angling Trust, and Sport England. Children under 13 do not need a licence, and licences for children aged between 13 and 16 are free but you still need to register and receive a licence in order to go fishing. You can get a licence for the full year, for 8 days (ideal for holidays!) or just a day’s fishing.

NOTE: Although young children who are under 13 year old do not need a licence to fish, the person supervising them needs the proper fishing licence to take hold of the rod or to help the child fish with it.

The Angling Trust’s ‘Get Fishing’ campaign is proudly supported by
Shakespeare, Exclusive Tackle Partner and Angling Direct, Exclusive Retail Partner
as we all work towards getting more people fishing, more often.

Sport England recognise the Angling Trust as the national governing body in England.
It funds the work we do to promote active lifestyles and to maintain a regular participation habit through the sport of angling
and in partnership with other organisations to deliver the National Angling Strategy.