Last week, during Mental Health Awareness Week, teams from West London NHS Trust’s Talking Therapies collaborated with local barbershops to tackle mental health stigma.
The engagement and outreach work focused on men’s mental health, addressing stigma, and building community champions at barbershops to encourage men to seek mental health support.
The campaign was formed by the insights and experiences of male Talking Therapies service users. This included the creation of tailored material for use on-site at barbershops, such as stickers to place on mirrors. After testing different phrases, the men’s forum suggested: Want to cut out some of life’s stress? The phrase became the focal point of the campaign and featured on material placed in barbershops across the three boroughs.
Barbershops play an important role for men, as listeners of their customers’ stories. With this in mind, the Trust partnered with over 50 barbershops to raise awareness about men’s mental health. Barbers were encouraged to engage in conversations with their customers about mental well-being and to refer them to the NHS Talking Therapies service. To emphasise this message, they placed stickers on mirrors in participating barbershops to highlight the free NHS Talking Therapies service and the ease of self-referring.
Through this campaign, the teams have built strong community relations with a range of barbershops across Ealing, Hounslow, and Hammersmith and Fulham. The barbers responded positively to their roles as mental health advocates.
A West London NHS Trust statement said: ‘‘The success of this campaign is a step forward in normalising mental health conversations and making support accessible in familiar environments. We look forward to continuing to build these relationships with plenty of opportunities for further engagement.’’
If you or someone you know may need mental health support, please visit
https://hounslowherald.com/west-london-barbershops-help-tackle-mental-health-stigma-p25184-95.htm
