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Help Making Change

Suicide is still the single biggest killer of young British men. The reasons are myriad, sometimes opaque and always individual, and men, shockingly, still make up three-quarters of those who take their own life in the UK.

Despite recently released figures showing male suicide rates in the UK have fallen to their lowest levels in more than 30 years – in 2017, there were 4,383 male suicides, a rate of c15.5 per 100,000 men according to data from the Office For National Statistics. But death by suicide remains the biggest killer in men between 20 and 45 in the UK. We can’t rest easy when such a tragic thing can still happen to our friend, our family, our neighbour, someone working with us, or ourselves.

Manfulness is a new approach to real-time support, content and private coaching for mid-life men, dads, sons, brothers, leaders and transitioning males who want to find clarity, purpose and peace of mind with where they are and where they’re going.

Our goal is that by removing outdated, toxic ideologies of masculinity from day-to-day living, we can help men live happier, more fulfilled roles in the community whilst also knocking down the barriers that face other groups from all walks of life.

What do I want to achieve with my work? I really only have one goal; I'd like to eradicate the phrase 'We never saw it coming'. If it's data and Ai that helps me do that, so be it. But it's also got to be about re-educating society on what we mean by normal.
Pete Trainor
Power and Responsibility Conference, 2018
In 2016 a group of us came together to form a coalition called ‘ManMade’. The vision behind ManMade was that with enough varying skills and perspectives on Male Suicide, steps could be made to find innovative methods of prevention and intervention. The group included the Police, Suicide Survivors, relatives of victims, government officials, suicide prevention specialists… and me, the technologist and Design Strategist.

Help before we know we need it?

I’m committed to offering my expertise in coaching, mentorship, data and strategic design to help find methods of care and support outside the usual channels. The problem we need to solve isn’t CSR, or charity, it’s not wanting our sons to ever to feel like they’re lost, lonely, or forgotten about.

For the past 3 years I have used my resources, money, speaking opportunities, and research to look at technologies role in combatting the growing problem of mens mental health and suicide prevention. Groups of us have spent a lot of time and resources inventing, innovating, coding, designing, researching and making to see if there is a role for technology in this space… the signals are looking positive.

The Insight

Men will talk, they will say what is on their mind. They do have issues that need to be unpacked… but they won’t always speak directly with another human.

The Vision

Create systems that listen, give basic advice, offer distractions at points of crisis, and ultimately point men at the right human intervention. Smart triage.

“Meet the chatbots doing your job”

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Why is this the right time?

Data

Because of ubiquitous mobile technology, we’re not generating, and collecting more data than ever before.

Processing

Better processing of data, advancements in NLP technology, and growing sentiment analysis capability.

Personalisation

For the first time in digital history, we have the ability to deliver realtime, totally tailored content.

Data and Ai are not THE solution. Data and Ai are PART of the solution. It needs to be factored into the broader human eco-system, and ultimately used as triage towards humans, not replacement of humans.

Pete Trainor

ManMade, Birmingham, 2016

Expert Advisors, Collaborators and Benefactors

Nobody fights this fight alone, and I feel really priviliged to work with many incredible minds from across the entire spectrum of support and prevention. It’s really important in this line of work to have access to experts, qualified professionals, and people who work at the very forefront of the issues. My team of advisors, contacts, and front-line workers helps keep the work focused, ethically grounded, and focused on the right issues.

Terry Rigby

Founder and Director of Forward For Life

Caron Thompson

Founder and director of common unity

Jonny Benjamin MBE

award-winning mental health campaigner

CALM

CAMPAIGN AGAINST LIVING MISERABLY

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