"It's time for change!"

Thursday 19 September 2019

A Guernsey barbershop is attempting to cut the stigma around men's mental health, and is encouraging other local businesses to do the same.

Harper-Rae Barbershop has joined international initiative The Lions Barber Collective, which trains hairdressers in how to recognise signs of mental ill health in clients and signpost them to help.

"It's about getting awareness to professionals like us that the position we're in is incredible," explained shop Owner and Director, Sam Phillips. "We're able to help people. For instance, if I saw you out and started putting my hands through your hair and on your neck and moving your head around you would be really uncomfortable, but coming to the barbershop that awkwardness vanishes. Already that barrier is down and we can talk to people."

Harper-Rae's introduction of the initiative follows on from the release of local mental health documentary 'Man Down', which was sponsored by the business.

Pictured: Harper-Rae sponsored local documentary 'Man Down' which explores male mental health.

"There's friends/clients who I've met through my job who have confided in me. I knew when they met a new person before anyone else did, I knew when their girlfriend was pregnant before anyone else did or when they were going to propose," said Mr Phillips. "We hear a lot of things, so it means we can notice a change in people's demeanour or we can sense that things are wrong. It's a great opportunity for us to ask if they're feeling down or bad and we can put them onto the right people.

"Our main goal is to try and get into people's minds that when they feel suicide is the only option, they can remember what we've spoken about and think about what we're trying to do and hopefully it can save them."

The Lions Barber Collective was set up by Torquay-based barber Tom Chapman after he lost a friend to suicide.

"We're not expecting hairdressers to suddenly become counsellors," Mr Phillips added. "We don't want people to think you're going to go into a hairdressers and be spoken to by a therapist. But it's important for us as professionals in the position we're in to recognise those signs and get help out there if we need to.

"We're just signposting. It might not be suicide, it might be 'I've lost my job, I'm panicking, I don't know what to do' and we know recruitment agents."

Mr Phillips is hoping to expand the project locally in the future, offering businesses information on what to look out for and pointing them in the direction of the charity.

The Barbershop also plans to attend local events with information on where help can be found, as well as launching an app which will have contact details for different organisations and using social media to raise awareness of #hair2help.

"We've kind of set up a little crisis centre so that, if we do think something is wrong, we can point them in the right direction," Mr Phillips said.

"I really do encourage other people, if you're in that position, to go for it!"

More information on The Lions Barber Collective is available here.

Pictured top: Harper-Rae Barbershop (image from harper-rae.co.uk).