It’s been 11 months since MWT was launched, and in that time a lot has happened. We’ve run dozens of groups, built an online community and started to build the foundations to become a charity.
When I announced I was launching a non-profit organisation for mens mental health, no one said it was going to be easy. In fact, many people warned me of the opposite. It’s no secret that the charity sector is an intense one to enter, and in many ways is designed to discourage people from setting up in the first place. From extensive paperwork required to demonstrate competence, to lack of funding without registered status, it can certainly be a challenge for new organisations to find their feet.
Men Who Talk is no exception to that. Over the last 11 months, we’ve battled tight budgets and a mountain of admin just to “keep the lights on”. This has often meant difficult decisions being made, especially in relation to our peer-to-peer support groups.
Given the amount of hard work that has gone into MWT, I am enormously proud of where we are, and more excited than ever about the future. It may seem like things have been a bit quiet recently, but building a sustainable organisation takes time and patience.
With all of this in mind, we have collectively come to the conclusion that it is not feasible for us to run our peer-to-peer support groups at the moment. We don’t yet have access to funds that would allow us to market the groups properly and engage more fully with the communities we wish to serve.
Therefore, we are announcing a temporary pause on all groups, until around March/April 2023. We are truly sorry not to be able to offer support during this time, however do hope that you understand this comes from a good place.
We are in the final stages of preparing an application for charity status, supported by the incredible team at Baker McKenzie. Once we have heard back from the Charity Commission we hope to be able to relaunch our groups and accelerate our work to champion mens mental health and wellbeing.
In the meantime we will still be operating on a reduced basis, spending more time on evaluating the work we have already done, and focussing on further improving our organisational structures to be ready for an awesome relaunch in 2023.
Thank you as ever to all of the MWT team, our volunteers, trustees and all those who have supported us. We cannot WAIT to see in this new and exciting chapter with you all soon.
Sam Davies (Founder, MWT)
