A NEW project aimed at improving men’s mental health has begun a pilot scheme in Bolton.

The ‘Manbassadors’ project is aiming to recruit businesses to become important mediums in the fight to improve awareness around men’s mental health.

The ‘manbassadors’ can help customers and regulars, by identifying their mental health problems or concerns and signposting them to the appropriate services.

The project is being run by Bolton at Home (BaH) amid hopes the pilot scheme can kickstart a new wave of mental health support for men in the town.

Adam Warbrick, the community development officer for BaH, said that the scheme was looking at places such as gyms, newsagents, pubs, cafes and takeaways.

He said: “During the pandemic and through lockdown, we ran a survey to speak to a number of residents and asked about how they had been affected by things.

“A few things came out of these surveys and one of those was that older people were suffering with fears and anxieties around lockdown, and they were getting worse.

“We are hoping that Manbassadors can be a good engagement tool - if businesses can spot when their customers are struggling, they can really help them.”

The project is asking the manbassadors to look out for signs and symptoms and even stimulate conversation with simple questions asking about how people are.

They may notice someone appears down, is buying more alcohol, or appears despondent.

The project is aiming to help train businesses if they so wish, or just to provide posters and leaflets.

Adam added: “There was a pilot project for something similar to this in Leeds and it worked well.

“We don’t know how our project is going to go so we will just have to see.

“The main priority is raising awareness - we want people to know that someone is there to listen, to help and there is always someone on the other end of the phone.”

Adam is currently encouraging businesses who sound interested in the pilot project to contact him for more details.

He can be found via e-mail at boltonmanbassadors@boltonathome.org.uk