THIS CAN SAVES LIVES

In December 2021, our MD Sam Burrows signed a £5k cheque for Talk Club. This £5k was 5% of total Clear Head sales after its first year - a commitment we have poured into our 0.5% BEER FOR GOOD.

Roll on to March 2025, and our Clear Head donations have smashed the £100k milestone. Join us as we chat to Ben Akers, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Talk Club to find out what this support means to their community.

Let’s start with a little look back
In 2019, the first ever Talk Club session took place in the back of the Bristol Beer Factory Tap Room. The mission was clear, to help improve mental health, starting with the questions ‘How are you? Out of 10?’ The Talk Club team knew that the best way to get someone to open up was in places where they feel comfortable. For some people, that’s the pub. Ben explains, “Depression, anxiety and alcohol are not a great mix. We wanted an alcohol-free pint for people to drink in the pub. Neil, one of our Co-Founders, came up with the name Clear Head and I was like, that's brilliant. We pitched the idea to Sam. He told me to do one, twice. The third time was in 2020, and lockdown gave Tristan (BBF Head Brewer) some time to play with. After a few trials, he nailed Clear Head. Since then, Sam, and the entire BBF gang, have been a massive part of our growth by offering us a sustainable income stream, making introductions with other businesses, and by sharing the message. But none of this would have happened if the beer wasn't so brilliant. It tastes good. It does good. It’s that simple.”

So tell us about this growth. Where are you now? 
Talk Club now has over 120 clubs around the country, employs 10 staff (5 full and 5 part-time) and has trained over 700 volunteer captains. They offer free peer-to-peer Talk & Listening groups, Talk and Exercise groups and Talk Club Group Therapy, run by qualified therapists, as well as, offering mental health support to businesses.

Most of their work focuses on improving men’s mental fitness as men are 3 times more likely to take their own life than a woman. But Ben is very clear that Talk Club supports the entire community, ‘because every one of us has a man in our life, whether it's a father, a brother or son, a husband, an uncle or a neighbour, and a mentally fit man is good for everyone.’

Ben dives in, “The reason why I say over 120 groups is by the time this goes out there will be more. We are setting up new groups every week. We've now got four Talk Clubs a day in Bristol prison. We have one-to-one Talk Club sessions in businesses. Our model means we set up and support Captains (the blokes who run the groups) very quickly and once we have a venue – we always need new venues – we are ready to go. We’re growing fast because it’s easy, it’s safe and it’s needed.”

You’ve told us that Clear Head cans have literally saved lives. What’s the story behind this? 
“I mean, I have had countless men tell me they are only alive because they found Talk Club. Our sessions helped them open up, find support and build resilience.  But there is one story that stands out for me that links directly back to Clear Head. This pub had just begun stocking Clear Head. The landlord read the side of the can, liked what he read and wanted to set up a club in his back room. He contacted us on the Wednesday. We trained him to be a Captain on the Thursday (it’s an hour on zoom). The club was up and running by the following Tuesday. Literally less than a week. Two years later, a man told us that he was feeling suicidal when he first went to the Talk Club sessions in the back room of that pub. We can attribute that group to Clear Head, and that man tells me he’s alive because of that group. So, that man is alive because of Clear Head both directly, and indirectly through the money raised, and the staff we can employ to make it happen. We got lucky. But we also created our own luck. That's one person. There are hundreds more.”

What’s so special about our collab? 
Bristol Beer Factory donates 5% of total Clear Head sales to Talk Club. So, for everyone buying a keg, can or bottle, you have helped raise £100k enabling Talk Cub to start real conversations and save lives.

Ben describes the donations from BBF as ‘the backbone’ of how they have been able to grow. Over the past 4 years, they have allocated the £100k towards putting a roof over their heads and growing their team. But he goes on to say our collaboration is so much more than just the cash. “Clear Head offers us a vehicle to reach more and more people. Most men find it hard to look after their mental health. You have to make it easy for them to say ‘yes’ to seeking support. You have to nudge them. Nudge them a few times, in different ways, until they think about helping themselves. Someone may drink Clear Head and not know what Talk Club is all about. But they clock the logo. Then they see one of the posters. They notice someone wearing a ‘How are you? Out of 10?’ T-shirt. Next time they pick up a can of Clear Head, they search for Talk Club online. Then they attend a group and they are finally heard. So, the model isn't just about giving us cash, it’s about getting the message into someone's hand.”

What’s next for Talk Club?  
Devastatingly, suicide is still the biggest killer of men under 50. That’s why Talk Club are on a mission to ensure there are as many mental fitness groups around the UK as there are physical gyms*. Ben gives us the detail. “We want to create a community where men are mentally fit, which means they can be better for their kids their partners, their work colleagues etc. One man takes his own life every two hours. We want to prevent other families from feeling how I have felt, being affected by suicide. Every decision we make brings it back to ‘how do I get a man to come along to a Talk Club session and open up’. That’s why we want to grow the team, increase the number of groups and build a mentally fit community.”

Finally, have you got any words for our Clear Head drinkers out there?
Thank you, A massive, massive thank you. The donations from Clear Head enable us to employ our Community Manager, Barney. He is responsible for setting up new clubs, starting new conversations and ultimately saving lives.  We need more Barneys. So the more you drink, the more lives you'll save. It really is as simple as, THIS CAN SAVES LIVES.”

If you want start a conversation by putting a number on how you really feel, 
or set up a Talk Club visit www.talkclub.org or email Hello@TalkClub.org and follow @TalkClubCharity on Instagram. 

In the meantime, order a case of Clear Head and know you are playing your part.

*We’ve since checked and there are 7,009 gyms in the UK so we’ve got a few more cans of Clear Heads to sell to help them reach this goal.