
A Sunderland University student has created a new t shirt that raises awareness of the growing problem of suicide amongst young males.
Lewis Docherty (24) originally from Slough, is a video editing student and started working on a project to create an advert to help with men’s mental health. The project was close to Lewis’s heart as he, like so many young people has experienced poor mental health in the form of anxiety and panic attacks.
During his research, he realised that the number of young men taking their own lives was phenomenal. He found that that men were twice as likely to end their own lives as women were and in 2021, in the UK there were an estimated 5219 suicide related deaths of which 3852 were men. After a few weeks of research, he became more emotionally attached to the project, and changed his focus from getting a good grade to looking into what he could do to try and help others.
He decided that the subject for his video should be a T Shirt as he wanted to make something that could be fashionable as well as something that could portray the important messages he wanted to get across to his audience.
“I bounced ideas with family and friends and a pattern emerged that indicated that when men were troubled with mental health and they were asked about their feelings, many simply shrugged it off by saying phrases such as “I’m fine,” “I’m OK,” or “I’m just tired. We’ve even got one design that is just question marks.”
Lewis has created a sample designer T Shirt with the phrase “I’m Just Tired” in the hope that it will encourage interest in the comment and get people talking about male suicide rates.
“I know it’s an odd thing to say on a T Shirt and that’s why I think it will be a talking point and raise awareness of this dreadful situation. Men tend to make too many excuses and bottle up their emotions to make them appear strong. If just one conversation ends up saving a young life, then I think that is very worthwhile indeed.
“I want the shirt to be nice enough to purchase because of the design but more importantly, purchasers would be contributing to helping other people which is a huge bonus.”
Although at the very early stages in the process, Lewis is doing market research. and looking at potential suppliers, website hosts, investors, or companies to back the project. Once sponsors are found, the T Shirts will be sold to help raise funds for local charities that raise the profile of male suicide.
“We all have to watch out for each other but sometimes the signs are right under our noses and too many people realise when it’s just too late,” added Lewis.