00:00Nobody should be left alone here.
00:03In the small town of Froome and Somerset in the southwest of England,
00:07community is a priority. Anyone who is lonely or unwell
00:12can get help from volunteers like James Lewis and Amy Wood.
00:16They founded the organization Dogs for Health.
00:19In the park they meet up with Denny Perry.
00:24Together with their Spaniards, Molly and Clover,
00:27they help people with mental health problems.
00:32There's a huge sense of satisfaction in doing it.
00:35There is so much social isolation in this country that we don't tackle.
00:39And when we try and tackle it just using one-to-one conversation,
00:44quite often there's a struggle.
00:46Doing it the way we do it with the dogs,
00:48it means that the person feels more comfortable.
00:50They don't have to talk to me, they can talk to my dog.
00:53James Lewis used to be in the military.
00:55Now he works as a truck driver.
00:57He's been looking after Denny Perry for two years.
01:00Perry was also a soldier.
01:02After his discharge from military service,
01:05he fell into a deep hole and had to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital
01:09because of post-traumatic stress disorder.
01:12The walks help him a lot.
01:14He hopes to soon be able to do without medication altogether.
01:18Being out and about, being in the fresh air,
01:21being able to talk to James, it's like I've known him for years.
01:24It's fantastic.
01:26And the dogs, at the end of the walk, they all want to cuddle as well,
01:32which is an amazing feeling.
01:35Dogs for Health is not the only initiative in Froome
01:38that provides personal support.
01:40Because many men find it difficult to talk about their feelings,
01:44there is also the so-called men's shed.
01:47In the woodwork shop, they can do woodwork side by side
01:51or just come by for a chat, like John Caulfield.
01:56After his retirement, the former engineer suffered from depression.
02:01It's relaxed. It's where you can share things if you want to
02:05and get some quite constructive and helpful feedback
02:09and response from people who are perhaps in a similar situation.
02:13Because, as you know, for men,
02:15we find it difficult to talk more about ourselves personally.
02:19But if you're amongst a group of men, it seems to be a little bit easier.
02:24The men's shed in Froome is now more than 10 years old,
02:27and it's no longer just a men's shed.
02:30Anyone can take part for a donation.
02:33Those who have no money pay less or nothing at all.
02:37Everyone who runs courses is a volunteer.
02:41A lot of people here find it a pen in the ship, and I do for a start,
02:45because I'm relatively new to Froome.
02:48And I've made good friends here. There's a lot.
02:51And my husband, too, because he comes to the men's shed
02:54and helps with the women's shed when they're doing woodwork or something like that.
02:58Patrick Abrahams founded the men's shed in Froome.
03:01There are now around 1,000 initiatives like this in the United Kingdom,
03:05and the number is growing.
03:09It's a desperate need.
03:10And some of the areas that we don't work well enough with
03:13is younger people and ethnic minorities.
03:16In Froome, there is a young person's shed that meets on a Wednesday evening.
03:20But increasingly, young people are suffering from the same things
03:24that everyone else is, in terms of mental health,
03:27in terms of anxiety and depression.
03:30More and more Britons are seeking help for mental health problems,
03:33and young people in particular often have to wait months for an appointment.
03:37The Froome Medical Centre coordinates everything with a focus on prevention.
03:42GP Helen Kingston says that many problems arise because patients are lonely.
03:47She's well connected with social care services,
03:50as well as with voluntary organisations such as the men's shed.
03:54Since the new initiative was founded, hospital emergency admissions fell by around 14%.
04:03Sometimes, if you can recognise when people are struggling
04:07and put in some simple measures that can turn that situation around
04:12from becoming a crisis to being something that people are managing day to day.
04:19In Denny Perry's case, his hospital team had put him in touch with Patrick and Dogs for Health,
04:24with success.
04:28I have now got to the stage where I feel confident that I'm in a much better place,
04:33and I've spoken to James at length about helping the charity out.
04:38I'd like to put back now what I have gained out of it,
04:41and put back to anybody else that needs it as well.
04:45And people need help everywhere.
04:47Patrick is looking to start the Dogs for Health initiatives in the Philippines,
04:51and Danny wants to help him.
Comments