RLD Supporting Men’s Minds Matter at the CHSummit 2025

This year at Summit, we will host a community impact company called Men’s Minds Matter.  ​

Soon to become a registered charity, this small group of individuals is committed to raising the awareness of men’s suicide prevention across the UK. ​

​Given that one in three people will contemplate suicide at some point in their lives, we may know, or not know, someone beside us, or close to us, who is struggling. With one in five of those who die by suicide having no prior diagnosed mental illness, many of those facing everyday challenges can be harder to spot.  ​

​To put this into perspective, someone in the UK takes their own life every 90 minutes. In sporting terms, that’s the duration of a football, rugby, or hockey match. So, across the 2 days of our summit, that’s another 32 lives lost.​

​Talking helps, and we can all get better at providing the opportunity to talk.  ​

​An observation from my experience working across both the public and private sectors, I’ve noticed there can still be more reluctance within the private sector to show vulnerability or perceived weaknesses. In our UK business, we are 40% Female, 58.5% Male and 1.5% undisclosed/other/prefer not to say.  ​

Imagine if we could help. We can.​

​We are TeamRLD, and our team looks out for each other. To borrow Dan’s phrase, we are not bits and bytes, but human lives.​

​So why am I telling you all this? And why am I asking for your help?​

​As a sister, mum, wife, daughter, niece, aunt, friend and colleague, what I have learned, is that in whatever capacity in life, men and women often communicate differently at different times. It starts childhood, from being young boys and girls, when our vulnerabilities perhaps first begin to take shape. ​

​On a very basic level, my teenage nieces often start a conversation with “Lets go for coffee”. My son’s, on the other hand, have yet to start a conversation in such a way! They tend to talk while kicking a football ball back and forth, knocking around on a table tennis table or in the car being taxi’ed to their next match. ​

​Sometimes this continues into adulthood, and when it comes to being vulnerable, many of us, men and women alike, often find it easer talking side by side or doing while doing activities together. ​

Just my very simple observations. ​

So here is where you come in… and where you can help… ​

At the Connected Health and Care Summit, we will have two bike machines in The Hive to recognise that people feel comfortable talking in all sorts of ways, and that, at times in people’s lives, direct eye contact is not always what it’s cracked up to be! ​

​For any of you reading this, I just ask two things please:​

• If you are attending Summit, if you can spare some time in your busy schedule to come and pedal and chat, please come by the stand and get involved ​
• If you are able to donate to MMM, that would also be amazing, look out for the QR codes and join the scavenger hunt – and you will be in the challenge to win some prizes too, during the 2 summit days.​
• If you are not attending Summit but would still like to donate, you can find out more and do that here: https://localgiving.org/fundraising/RLD-Supporting-Mens-Minds-Matter​ ​

Whatever way you can support really will be appreciated,

Thank you folks, ​

Karen Swinson