In episode 278 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Jamie Dennis.
Jamie is the CEO and Founder of Mandem Meetup (MM), a grassroots charity which promotes, corrects and improves the conversation around men’s mental health and wellbeing.
They provide an open, inclusive community for all men, integrating a range of social, holistic and more ‘traditional’ forms of clinical support. This includes psycho-social interventions and recreational activities, practical advice and guidance, as well as talking therapy and more.
All of their interventions are free in the goal of ensuring there’s one less barrier to access for any men who feel they want to be a part of their community.
At their heart are ordinary people. They offer a relaxed, comfortable, and judgement-free space built to empower men to be themselves.
Their message to all men is: come as you are, you’re welcome here.
The charity began in 2019 after Jamie found himself in a toxic relationship.
He was also working in a sales job he hated but excelled at and he realised he needed to find a new purpose and direction.
He found the strength to leave that job and end the relationship, went travelling for a year and a half and ended up in another job back in Manchester, where he was born and raised.
One day, his mental health difficulties he had been bottling up came exploding to the surface, and he put his trust in a male work colleague and disclosed what he had been going through.
This included scars from growing up in an abusive household where his step-father domestically abused his mother and physically abused him and his three siblings.
From that positive moment of disclosure and having seen the power and responsibility his colleague took to make him feel safe and trusted, Jamie wanted to be that man for other men in Manchester.
He held the first ‘Talking Circle’, which is a now-staple of Mandem Meetup at his house on 28th December 2019 and the rest, as they say, is history.
Since then, MM delivers workshops on nutrition, men’s emotional literacy, photography, poetry as well as coping mechanisms for daily mental health.
They also deliver calisthenic sessions, football and have collaborated with Pure Gym to deliver sessions in their gyms.
They have secured a permanent space for their Talking Circle at Transcend Studios and are now in 5 locations in Manchester alone as well as Wolverhampton, giving opportunities for people to learn new skills across the board.
In this episode we discuss: Jamie’s upbringing, growing up around domestic violence and how it impacted his own struggle to emotionally regulate, social class and how we help working-class lads like Jamie who are lost in the system, many of which are voiceless in society.
We then discuss how a turning point came when a judge gave him a second chance at life after his behaviour in his youth led to an arrest and court case.
We then discuss all the incredible work that MM do, helping homeless men and those in the prison system and the role they play in the men’s mental health space.
As always, #itsokaytovent
You can find out more about Mandem Meetup here.
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TRIGGER WARNING: this podcast contains brief discussions of sexual abuse, which some listeners may find distressing or upsetting, so please listen with caution.
