Heads up gentlemen, a mental health and well-being group that has been running for a year, has been nominated for Community Group of the Year award as part of the BBC Make a Difference awards.
Jeff Moritz, founder and CEO of Heads Up Gentlemen, set up the community group after his own lived experience of battling with his mental health, in hopes that it would help other men in crisis.
A year later, the hard work has paid off.
After waiting a whole 12 months from seeing his GP before receiving professional help, Jeff realised that a difference needed to be made.
He said: “I thought ‘I have to do something’, and Heads Up Gentlemen was formed”.
Heads Up Gentleman offers a safe space for men in the Salford area to discuss their struggles with people in the same circumstances.
“When I started Heads Up Gentlemen, I was worried in the first session, ‘Is anyone going to come?’. Now I’ve had 600 men come through this door”, Jeff told us.
Being nominated for the Community Group of the Year award means a great deal to the founders and members of the group.
Jeff expressed his gratitude for the recognition.
“It would mean everything, because it’s been a difficult year”
“It would mean the world to see a grassroots group born from lived experience being recognised nationally, proving that community, compassion, and simply being there for one another can truly change – and even save – lives”.
Jeff emphasises the impact of the group on, not only saving and changing lives, but the well-being factor of having space for conversation, and a community.
Jeff Said: “It takes that clinical feel out of it,
“Offering that safe space,
“I know a lot of the guys would rather be sat with me and chit-chatting, rather than going to the GP”.
The group holds lecturing sessions of specific struggles, as well as activities with a focus on fitness as a way to heal the mind.
Jeff said: “Throughout our group we have men that suffer from different mental health illnesses from schizophrenia to ADHD, bipolar”
The group has now started a secondary group, Heads Up Dads.
Heads Up Dads offers a space for fathers’ support separate from the mental health focus.
“Heads up dads is to create that space where we can teach them through the importance of co-parenting, because ultimately, it’s the children that suffer” said Jeff.
Jeff Moritz speaking about Heads Up Gentlemen
To learn more about the group, visit Heads Up Gentlemen or Facebook.
