A director from recruitment agency Recruit UK has launched a mental health initiative for male Financial Planners.

The Financial Planner Life Talk Club offers men within the profession to connect and support each other.

Male Financial Planners will be encouraged to open up with others about their concerns, fears and challenges to help them to open up, something Recruit UK says can be hard within the male-dominated Planning profession.

Talk Club is a secure mental health fitness community helping keep men fit by giving them a friendly and private space to share and support others.

Sessions will ask members to check in with how they are, discuss the positives in their lives, and discuss mental fitness plans.

Sam Oakes from Recruit UK said: “By checking in regularly with yourself and other men, talk club creates a community that we are all missing in today’s fast-paced world.

“A Talk Club is not therapy, it’s exactly what it says, a club for men to talk, it’s about starting the conversation and listening to others. 

“Suicide remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide. In England, around 1 in 8 men have a common mental health problem, and it is a known fact that men are 3 times more likely to take their own life than women.

“We have a secure community within the talk club platform, where you are able to check-in 24/7.”

The Financial Planner Life Talk Club will run for 2 hours a session and each session will host between 8-14 men from the profession. 

Mr Oakes continued: “For some time, I have wanted to use my platform to create a mental health community for men within the Financial Planning profession. As a recruiter who has talked to 1000’s of men within the profession over the past decade I was acutely aware of the number of men who were suffering with their mental health, due to the pressures that the job can bring, this was reinforced during lockdown when sadly Nick Gunnel a financial adviser from York took his own life. 

“At the time I reached out via social media to express how little I see the Financial Planning profession taking about mental health within the profession, and what could be done about it, the post had a great response and several advisers reached out to me. We started meeting once a week online to discuss our personal experiences of poor mental health and how it affected our careers, families, and our own personal wellbeing.   It was then that we discovered the infinite power of talking and listening.” 

Financial Planning Life Talk Clubs will be launching across the UK

Interested Planners can contact The Financial Planner Life Talk Club team and view podcasts at https://financialplannerlife.com/