The Being Men podcast grew out of the Touchstone Men’s Network. At its heart, the network is a peer support group open to anyone who identifies as male and works across the Third sector in Leeds.

We meet once a month to check in with one another, and what began with just four of us has steadily grown to ten or more regular members. While most of our gatherings take place online, we’ve also been able to meet face-to-face more recently, which has been especially meaningful.

These sessions are simple but powerful. The conversations have flown naturally, sometimes around general wellbeing, and other times focusing on men’s health, stigma, and the barriers we can often face as men. Having experienced male peer support groups outside of work myself, I know just how vital these safe spaces can be.

The question became, how could we continue to amplify these voices? That’s where the idea for the podcast was born. It was never about being polished or professional; we’re not claiming to be experts. We’re simply men from many different walks of life, carrying different experiences—coming together to share, to listen, and to show that not only do men talk but to show the amazing things that happen when they do.

I see the value and the importance of men from different nationalities, sexualities, class etc coming together to learn from each other. Each of us bringing our own definition of ‘masculinity’ and what that means to us. The podcast and the peer support group is as much about sharing our own journeys as it is listening and learning from others.

We are now 11 episodes in with many more planned in the future. We aim to record and release an episode each month with varying topics. Some of the topics can be specifically relevant to men, others are simply powerful conversations to hear men having.

We are always welcome to hearing new themes and topics for us to discuss on the podcast and would love to hear peoples thoughts on this.

If you would like to put forward an idea, or you would like to be involved and feature on an episode, you can reach out to any of our core members.

 

You can listen to our podcast via Spotify, Apple Music & Amazon Music:

https://open.spotify.com/show/4TOq6AH66YGGvpM93XqiTT

https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/5a06a37d-1be9-46a2-b4ef-6b0d4737a4ca/the-being-men-podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-being-men-podcast/id1813885941

 

For podcast enquiries:

Tobie Fawcett (Barca-Leeds) – Tobie.fawcett@barca-leeds.org

Malachi Openshaw (Touchstone) – malachio@touchstonesupport.org.uk

Stephen Creek (Touchstone) – stephenC@touchstonesupport.org.uk

 

If you feel you would benefit from our monthly peer support groups and work across the Third sector in Leeds, or you just wanted to find out more, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Malachi Openshaw (Touchstone) – malachio@touchstonesupport.org.uk

Stephen Creek (Touchstone) – stephenC@touchstonesupport.org.uk

 

Touchstone Leeds

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