The Grooming Brand That Goes Beneath The Surface

New ethical grooming brand Kings has just launched its Talk Club initiative, designed to give men a support network and promote good mental health. The brand’s founder, Blue O’Connor, explains what the initiative is for and the personal reasons he has for setting it up

- Blue O'connor

WHY DID YOU START THE TALK CLUB SESSIONS?

Talk Club was the brainchild of four men (including myself) who all have direct and indirect experience of mental health negatively affecting their lives or the lives of loved ones. We all met thanks to [Talk Club co-founder] Ben Aker’s groundbreaking documentary on men’s suicide called Steve. Ben decided to crowdfund and produce the film after a childhood friend of his sadly took his own life.

We were all trying to improve men’s mental health in our own way, and we thought the sum of our individual efforts would be greatly compounded if we worked together. We decided to use our individual projects – mine being Kings – and experiences as a catalyst for funding and creating Talk Club.

I can’t speak for the other three founders – I wouldn’t feel comfortable sharing their personal stories – but for me, I felt I needed to take action in the mental health space after experiencing and overcoming my own struggles with anxiety, panic attacks and depression during my mid-20s. Over the past five or six years, I’ve learned how to manage my mental health and live a happy and fulfilling life. I feel a strong sense of responsibility to support anyone who finds themselves in a position similar to my own because I know how hard and dark it can be.