The Proper Blokes Club has already delivered successful walks in Croydon and now runs 25 regular sessions across London
“There are a lot of women who get in touch with us — they’re our biggest referrers. Usually it’s wives and girlfriends saying, ‘My husband or boyfriend needs this’.” Scott Johnson says encouragement from partners is often what first brings men to the Proper Blokes Club, a walking group he founded to break the stigma around male mental health.
On a cold day in New Addington, where the group has recently received funding from Croydon Council to run eight walks, Scott told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) how people get involved. During a walk in his native Southwark, the group was passing a house when a woman came out and said: “Wait there — I’ve seen you online.”
She then brought her husband out and encouraged him to join. “Once he came, he stayed,” Scott said. “That’s just one example of what I imagine happens in thousands of households every week. What we’ve realised is the one place where men put their mask down the most is at home.”
Scott set up the Proper Blokes Club in 2020 and he now runs 25 regular walks across London. The idea grew out of his own struggles following a relationship breakdown and time spent in the court system securing access to his child.
“It came off the back of my own problems,” he said. “It damaged me mentally and I didn’t realise until later. I wanted to help more dads going through the same thing. That changed after the first walk, though, because the first guy wasn’t a dad.”
The club in the middle of its first trial sessions in New Addington, having previously run successful walks in nearby Lloyd Park. New Addington was selected after discussions with public health officials at Croydon Council.
Scott believes the area would particularly benefit from the initiative because of its size and distance from the rest of Croydon. “I looked at it on the map and saw it was really isolated — it’s tucked away,” he said.
The LDRS visited during the recent tram suspension, which made the area harder to access. “If you take the Tramlink away, it can feel very isolated,” Scott said. Council funding goes directly towards facilitating the walks and covering practical costs. “It’s a small operation, no frills, but effective,” he said.
The New Addington programme includes four daytime and four evening walks, with the next one on March 25. Fellow walkers Edwyn Wood and Phil Innis joined Scott for the last of his daytime walks during our visit. Edwyn, a New Addington resident on his third walk, said the approach makes it easy to take part.
“I think it’s a really good initiative,” he told the LDRS. “We can talk about general things, it’s all easy. You can speak as much or as little as you want. I’m a bit of a chatterbox myself.”
The walks are deliberately relaxed, with no set themes or agenda. Scott said: “It’s very organic, we don’t have topics or prepared questions. We don’t want to put anyone off. There’s no pressure.”
Scott said common ground often emerges within the first half hour, particularly for those who arrive clearly needing support. “Some people aren’t confident going into traditional spaces. They can keep things in or talk about them here,” he said.
He drew on his own experience of NHS talking therapy when shaping the walks. “Women have all these support networks. Men don’t think they should talk about difficult things. They suffer in silence.”
“We are our own worst enemy.” he said. Suicide remains the leading cause of death for men under 50 in the UK, with three-quarters of all suicides being male.
Scott believes men often turn to distraction rather than discussion. “A lot of men self-medicate instead of helping themselves, not just drink and drugs, but the gym too. It’s used as a distraction. The problem is there, but we don’t talk about it enough. We’ve had lads come along and say, ‘I feel s**t — I need a pint.’”
Scotts described his age group as the “pub generation”, when going for a drink doubled as a way to connect. “You’d go for a pint, but really you were going to talk. Now the pubs are closing.” His view is that conversation itself can lighten the load. “Talking might not solve your problem, but it will make you feel better,” he said.
Phil, who also walks with the Walk and Talk 999 group for current and former emergency services staff, said the format can encourage people to open up. He told the LDRS: “There was an ambulance worker on sabbatical who just told us he was fed up of seeing people hurt.”
However, Scott is clear about the club’s role. “We’re not counsellors. I’m happy to point people in the right direction.” Trust is central to the model. “What’s said on the walk stays on the walk,” he added.
The average age of participants is between 40 and 60, although men as young as 18 and as old as 80 have attended. “The community has really got behind it,” Scott said, noting that only two people are needed for a walk to continue after his initial round finishes.
Posting about the walks on a local community page created “a real buzz”, he said, though turning online interest into attendance can be challenging. “It’s about getting guys on the ground, and that’s always the difficult part.
“Hopefully we can pick up a few guys and show them there is a different way of doing things. We just want people to have a bit of ownership and commitment.”
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