{"id":267308,"date":"2025-11-02T17:57:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T17:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/267308\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T17:57:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T17:57:12","slug":"preston-dad-wants-to-change-how-men-support-each-other-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/267308\/","title":{"rendered":"Preston dad wants to change how men support each other"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BillBill Brewer<\/p>\n

Bill Brewer’s efforts are part of Movember’s ongoing mission to change the face of men’s mental health<\/p>\n

A father-of-two has said he is on a mission to change how men support each other after dealing with his own mental heath struggles when he became a dad.<\/p>\n

Bill Brewer said he went from being “on top of the world, to being at one of the lowest points in my life”.<\/p>\n

“That’s when I really understood how fragile mental health can be,” he said, “and how important it is to have people around you who get it,” added the 35-year-old, who is originally from London but now lives in Preston, Lancashire. <\/p>\n

As the month-long mental heath campaign Movember kicks off, Mr Brewer said he wanted other men to know they were not alone.<\/p>\n

“It all started when a mate opened up to me about wanting to end his life,” he said. <\/p>\n

“I didn’t have all the answers, I just listened. <\/p>\n

“That moment showed me how powerful it can be when men talk and look out for each other.”<\/p>\n

If you, or someone you know, has been affected by the issues in this report, BBC Action Line<\/a> has put together a list of organisations that can help<\/p>\n

A year later, in 2022, after becoming a father and struggling to balance work, family, and his own wellbeing, Mr Brewer realised he too was struggling with his own mental health. <\/p>\n

“It was supposed to be a happy time, I was a new dad, but I’d stopped looking after myself,” he said. <\/p>\n

\"BillBill Brewer<\/p>\n

Bill Brewer, who moved to Preston to raise his family, said finding new friendships locally had been vital for his own wellbeing<\/p>\n

He began fundraising for Movember in 2024 by running 5km (3.1 miles) every day throughout November, raising more than \u00a32,000 for men’s health causes. <\/p>\n

This year, his mission has evolved beyond fundraising. <\/p>\n

“Men have a funny way of talking,” he said. “It’s not always deep heart-to-hearts, sometimes it’s just standing beside someone, going for a run, or having a kickabout. <\/p>\n

“That quiet kind of support can be enough to remind someone they’re not alone.”<\/p>\n

Three weeks ago, Mr Brewer set up the Brotherhood Run Club, which already has more than 70 members.<\/p>\n

During Movember, he will be running 60km (37 miles) every week in a bid to continue raising awareness. <\/p>\n

“To any man struggling, you’re not alone,” he said. <\/p>\n

“There’s no shame in opening up. Being vulnerable is one of the strongest things we can do.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bill Brewer Bill Brewer’s efforts are part of Movember’s ongoing mission to change the face of men’s mental…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[97,259,260],"class_list":{"0":"post-267308","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}