You didn’t get paid that much, really to be a young journalist on a magazine. But you were able to live a lifestyle that was that of someone who earned 20 times your yearly salary because every door was opened, and everything came free. Every weekend you had a different car that you’d been lent to drive around in or a hotel that you could go and stay in to review. And so I got involved in magazines towards the end of the 90s, but it was still absolutely booming, and magazine publishing in this country was huge.

A funny, wise and above all valuable book. An arm around your shoulder from your next best friend— Danny Wallace For many middle-aged blokes like me, masculinity is still all about beer, banter and a stiff upper lip.This book tells it like it is in an honest and down to earth way that men who find it hard to talk about mental health will be able to relate to easily. Sam really knows his stuff on this subject and is very frank about his struggles. A great, motivating book that can really help - every bloke should read it— Shaun Ryder After discovering that therapy didn’t have to be for ‘hippies and weirdos’, Sam became far more interested in the subject as a whole, reading books and researching the topic properly. He has learnt to ‘not belittle your own problems or pain’ and he feels hopeful that the newest generation of young men feel more able to discuss their feelings and experiences without judgment.

Keeping it all inside was what nearly dragged Sam under. Then he began to open up and share his story with others. Soon his life started to get better and better. Now, he’s written this book to help you do the same.Fatherhood is a huge thing. It’s a big theme in my book and often pops up in the podcasts because I think that people aren’t sometimes they aren’t prepared. I don’t think I was when I had my first kid. Or my second one, actually, for quite how demanding it was and how difficult it was to continue to juggle the other aspects of your life and perform them to the standards that you were used to or that you felt that you needed to, whilst also being a good dad. It’s just very exhausting, very overwhelming. You kind of fall into the trap of thinking every other dad is doing it really well, apart from you. What else did people do to sort their heads out when numbing the senses with drugs and alcohol were off the table? Meditation? Yoga? These things work a treat for millions but, to be honest, I just wasn’t into it at that stage of my life. I was frantic, strung out. I couldn’t sleep. I felt pretty lost and alone at times. Sam Delaney is an experienced author, journalist and broadcaster with a special interest in men’s mental health. My three previous books were: Get Smashed - The Story Of The Men Who Made The Ads That Changed Our Lives (Sceptre, 2007), Night Of The Living Dad (John Murray, 2009) and Mad Men And Bad Men (Faber, 2015). More than half would be celebrities either tipping you off or setting up stuff or, very often, one of the most popular things was to collude with the celebrity to set up a photo shoot that appeared to be stolen paparazzi shots. But which, in fact, had been fairly meticulously choreographed between us at the magazine and the celebrity’s team.

A network of anonymous, non-clinical groups for blokes to connect, talk and listen on a regular basis. Every Monday at 6.30pm for men in the UK and online globally. Every month, we talk to people with something to say about being a man or being a dad on the Dad La Soul Sessions. Journalist and broadcaster Sam Delaney joined us to talk about his drinking, drug taking, spiralling and then his mental health recovery. Rapper Professor Green, football player Declan Rice and comedian Romesh Ranganathan are just some of the ambassadors working with CALM.I mean, like a lot less than a picture that looked like it was taken on a long lens and was slightly blurred through a bush of a celebrity being caught kissing the wrong person on holiday by the pool. That shifts a million copies, but having the same celebrity with makeup on in a photo shoot in a studio might sell less than half a million copies. I have spent years as a broadcaster both in radio and TV. I have hosted numerous shows on BBC 5Live, BBC London and talkSPORT and presented documentaries for BBC Three and Channel 4. From 2016-2018 I hosted the drive time show on Talk Radio, covering the Brexit referendum, two general elections and the 2016 US Presidential Election, live from Washington DC. As a broadcaster, he has fronted documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4 and hosted over 1000 hours of live national radio across the BBC, talkSPORT and talkRadio. Honest, expert, down-to-earth support via the Campaign Against Living Miserably helpline (0800 585858) is open 365 days per year, 5pm-midnight. He recently qualified at Level 2 in counselling skills and became an ambassador for the mental health charity, CALM.

A nationwide network of men’s groups that meet every Monday night at 7pm to chat about how they’re getting on. His other books include Get Smashed – The Story Of The Men Who Made The Ads That Saved Our Lives (Sceptre, 2007) and Mad Men And Bad Men – What Happened When British Politics Met Advertising (Faber, 2015). Living in insecure housing and ­experiencing money worries puts you into a constant state of fight or flight,” says writer, broadcaster and former government mental health tsar, Natasha Devon MBE.My writing has appeared in The Guardian, Observer, The Sunday Times, Independent, Daily Telegraph, NME, Q, Grazia, Cosmopolitan, the New Statesman and numerous others. They’re community spaces for men to connect, converse and create. The activities are often similar to those of garden sheds, but for groups of men to enjoy together. They help reduce loneliness and isolation, but most importantly, they’re fun. It’s a real shame because since I learned to be more open about my feelings, I have been amazed by the amount of support I have received. And it was probably unhealthy that this was my first proper grown up job doing that sort of stuff, because it kind of made me feel, well, right, this is just working life is lots of free things and free drinks and pretty girls all the time and all the rest of it.”