I have many great passions in life, but right up there has to be beer and crisps.
The words you are reading right now are being crafted with a fine half (Omnium – yum yum) at my right hand, and a bag of ready salted to the left. (Yes, I write in the pub. And your point is?)
As with so many things we really like in life, I know my beverage and snack of choice are not the healthiest options. But life is too short for carrot sticks and Evian.
However, my slightly guilty conscience has been eased more than a fair bit thanks to the lovely folk at Beavertown, which is one of my favourite breweries. Try the Gamma Ray, it’s lovely.
They have come up with an excellent, let’s call it life-saving, idea built around a new range of crisps called Open Up. Beavertown has partnered with the suicide prevention charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (Calm) to create the range of snacks, which have “conversation starters” on the packs, intended to help friends open up when they’re out for a couple of beers.
Questions, designed by Calm, include things like: “What gets you through tough times?” and “If you could give your younger self advice, what would it be?”
My answers would be: “Having a beer with my mates” and “Never drink cider.”
But, on a more serious note – and this campaign is deadly serious – the idea is to get people, particularly young men, to have deeper and more meaningful conversations. The kind that could lead to someone admitting that, actually, they are struggling a bit. The sort of chat that could be the difference between someone getting the help they need over spiralling down in silence and despair.
The more we talk, the more lives we can save
Beavertown took this step following research showing that more than half of people in the UK have pretended to be just fine to avoid talking about their own mental health. And 60% of us still think there’s a stigma around mental health issues in society.
How strange that if you break a leg or an arm, folk line up to sign your stookie. But, if you have a breakdown, there’s a lingering fear that people are going to shun you.
One in four of us in Scotland will experience a mental health problem at some point in our lives
Add to that, one in four of us in Scotland will experience a mental health problem at some point in our lives. It might be a loved one. It might be a friend. It might be me. It might be you.
So, the more we are able talk about it, the more aware we become of the need to check in on each other, the more we we realise those we know – and love – might not be OK despite the facade, the more we can help people. The more lives we can save.
So, next time you’re sitting with mates over a beer, open up more than a bag of crisps.
Scott Begbie is a journalist and editor, as well as PR and comms manager for Aberdeen Inspired
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