Most men do not avoid help because they think nothing is wrong. They avoid the part where you choose a stranger and start talking.
These pages are for the man who has been meaning to sort it out for a while. They carry the real numbers rather than a comfortable version of them.
Half the referrals
The NHS Talking Therapies annual report counted almost 600k men referred in 2023-24. That is half as many as women.
The BABCP reads that as 33% of referrals, against 66% for women.
Need does not explain that. In England, 17% of men aged 16-64 have a common mental health condition. For women the figure is 28%.
The gap in need is far narrower than the gap in who asks for help.
The problem is the front door
The BABCP makes a useful point about what happens next. Once men do start treatment, their outcomes are comparable to women's.
That points at the door rather than at the treatment.
Being asked to read forty profiles and pick one is a filtering job. Most people who need support are in no state to do it, and many men will close the tab instead.
What this is
We are a connecting service, not a clinical one. We do not assess anyone and we do not diagnose anyone.
You have one short private conversation about what has been going on. We come back with a small number of professionals who work with it.
You do not need a diagnosis. You do not need the right words for it either.
Where to start
If you have been telling yourself it is not bad enough yet, start with waiting until it gets serious.
