Hello and welcome to another episode of Happy Mum, Happy Baby, Parenting, SOS.

November is Men's Mental Health Awareness Month, so we thought now would be a good moment to open up a really important conversation.

Suicide is a leading cause of death for men under 50 in the UK, a heartbreaking

reality that shows just how vital it is to talk openly about men's mental health. Starting

these conversations early can really make a difference. So joining me today is someone who knows

better than most how important these conversations can be. Until recently he served as the UK government's

youth mental health ambassador. It's Dr Alex George. Hello Alex. Hi there. Thank you so much

for having me, it's so nice to see you again. I feel like we met me. We've got paths across

some different occasions. It's so nice to see you. I know. And this is our third podcast together,

which is, which is lovely. You came on the stump cast and we had a good old stump actually, didn't we? We did. I've just literally been out just now with my dog, who just loves every single muddy pole. He can't actually walk around any of them. He just has to dive straight in. What is it with dogs? The same with Rolo. It's like if there's a path and there is like dry land either side, it's like I would take that. But the dog is like no, it's the direct routes to the puddle and out of it. I feel like it's some sort of like a fight against authority almost. I know. But I also do want to just go out in my well-ins and join them sometimes. You know know what I mean? Just that does look like fun.

It reminded me today of when the kids were younger and just having to stand next to the puddle while they jumped up and down. That's definitely what it felt like with Dennis today. Yeah, well, I mean, look, you are a proper stomper. I mean, you've stomped up some serious hills, mountains and all over the place, so you really are. You are an OG stomper, to be fair.

You are an OG stomper, a proper one.

A proper stomper.

A proper stper. A proper stomper. There we go. I'll take it. I'll take it. On this podcast, because of the nature of the podcast, we talk a lot about maternal mental health. And the statistic that sort of I heard many years ago, which is why we started doing this podcast. I've talked to you about it before.

The leading cause of death in new months within the first year is suicide.

That is a shocking statistic.

But this month is men's mental health awareness.

And there's so many other statistics that are now being talked about

and really highlighting how important it is for men

to be talking about how they're feeling. The statistics that four in five suicides are by men,

that it's the leading cause of death in men under 50. That is so shocking to me, so shocking.

And as a mum of boys, it's, you know, I have a lot of men in my life.

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