Event for men's mental health in honour of friends

A Kent woman is hosting an event to raise awareness of men's mental health after three friends took their own lives in the last five years.

Tia Davies, from Gillingham, said the event at the Tudor Rose in Upnor on Saturday aimed to raise funds for local charities, including North Kent Mind.

She said losing three friends since the Covid-19 pandemic had ignited a desire to "make a change" and push for men to open up.

The 31-year-old said the deaths had been profoundly impacting.

"Losing someone when we could have made a change, and we could have helped them, and the society that we live in could've helped, has had a big, big impact on me," she told Stephen Brown on BBC Radio Kent's evening show.

Ms Davies said that she first had the idea to host an event when having a drink at the Tudor Rose.

"I was having a cider and I looked at my friend Joanne and said, 'I want to do a charity event'. She [Joanna] said, 'do it'."

From there, Ms Davies contacted the pub landlady, who agreed to let her use the space.

Alongside North Kent Mind, the event will also raise funds for the suicide prevention initiative Baton of Hope, MenTalk Health Sittingbourne and a mental health support group for men in Swale.

According to a research briefing presented to the House of Commons earlier this year, men are three times more likely to take their own lives than women.

For Ms Davies, the statistics made raising awareness more important than ever.

She added: "Losing anybody in your lifetime is hard, but losing people because of the things that they couldn't talk about [is especially so]."

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