Medway Men in Sheds - a scheme commissioned by A Better Medway has been coming together to help combat loneliness.
Mahima Abedin reports.
Mahima Abedin reports.
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00:00This garden in Medway is said to be a safe space for men to come together and socialise
00:04so their mental health can flourish.
00:06Medway's Men in Sheds is a scheme which hopes to better men's wellbeing by inviting people
00:11to participate in different activities.
00:13Today's was gardening.
00:15What I hope we've done is enable guys with maybe low self-esteem to do things and to
00:24be effective.
00:26Some of the guys that come here maybe haven't been out of their house for three years.
00:31People get used to spending time on their own, they become poorly socialised, so for
00:39most people they tell me this is a gentle place, it's welcoming.
00:44I think that projects like this, you might think of this as a social prescription because
00:53it gets people relating to each other.
00:57According to the local government association, men in England are facing a silent health
01:01crisis as four out of every five suicides are men.
01:05It's helped my mental health, yes.
01:07I come here every couple of weeks.
01:09I come here to socialise with people who come here and chat to while I'm doing a bit of
01:17gardening.
01:18I enjoy gardening.
01:19So today's Men in Sheds session is a gardening session, but what I've learnt since being
01:23here is that the gates are actually open to anyone and everyone who wants to join in to
01:26garden or make some new friends, like Corinne here who's about to show me how to do this.
01:31If you could really nicely put some compost in here, it's nice and moist.
01:36There we are.
01:37So after I retired, I wanted something to do that was still people orientated.
01:45When I was at one of my worst, I was just sent home from work and told to get on with
01:50it.
01:51And they didn't hear me, they didn't see me.
01:53I think the fact that I can keep on sharing and caring and doing and being amongst all
02:01this lovely, beautiful flowers, trees, greenery, yeah, it's been a godsend.
02:07While Corinne and Alan say showing up to these sessions help their mental health, they worry
02:11others may find it difficult to take the first step and show up.
02:15Something groups like Medway Men in Sheds hopes to make easier.
02:18Mahima Abedin for KMTV in Medway.