Our events have featured speakers who support the Let’s Talk Better campaign including Gareth Bacon, MP; Cllr Mike Botting, Mayor of Bromley; Cllr Hannah Gray, Mayor of Bromley; suicide survivor and campaigner Nick Wilson; Brian Meehan of Samaritans; Delphine Chui of Caredogs; and young persons mental health advocate Ilhora-Lee.
Here are some words of support Let’s Talk Better has received:
Broadcaster Kath Melandri on BBC Radio London has described Let’s Talk Better as”‘a beautiful campaign”.
Author and campaigning journalist Alex Renton has said: “I’m sure grassroots initiatives like that are the way forward. Enabling talk about taboo topics – making them not taboo – is the best way of ensuring that children do not suffer in the way they did in all the stories I’ve been sent. Shame is a great silence, and it gets exploited by predators.”
Male friendship expert and author Max Dickins contributed some thoughts on male friendship ahead of our third event:
“Making a friend requires courage. It begins with the bravery to confront the fact that you might want one, that the friendship cupboard might not be quite as full as you’d hope. It requires speaking to a stranger, who you have no idea will like you. And it requires the stomach to initiate another meeting – a step that makes you even more vulnerable.
“Yet it’s not only making new friends that requires courage. Turning our more superficial friendships into something else – something deeper – also requires us to take a risk: to show a different side of ourself to a friend, and to ask that they do the same. These anxieties are more acute for men because of the unspoken rules we so often bring to friendship: don’t be needy, keep it light, be in control.
“Is there a solution here? Lots but perhaps one to consider first. Remember: everyone is anxious! Everyone is scared. They are waiting and wanting connection. So why not go first? Yes: connection requires courage. But there’s good news: connection then makes us courageous.”
Let's Talk Better C.I.C 