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# Why do more men need someone to talk to? The Ferret investigates…the health gap, part three
- URL: https://www.theferret.scot/the-ferret-investigates-health-gap-episode-three/
- Published: 2023-09-07T07:10:04.000Z
- Updated: 2025-10-17T09:01:33.000Z
- Author: Ferret Journalists
- Tags: Society, Health, #davesutton2gmail-com, Podcast, Mind the Health Gap, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2025-10-15 12:08, #older_metered

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2d/e2/2de2844d-80a7-4c7b-8025-6f1f39724aa6/content/images/2025/10/image-8.png)](https://www.theferret.scot/tag/mind-the-health-gap/)

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2d/e2/2de2844d-80a7-4c7b-8025-6f1f39724aa6/content/images/2025/10/screenshot-2023-09-06-at-12-06-41.png)](https://www.theferret.scot/the-ferret-investigates-podcast/)

***Our deaths by suicide rate is not coming down because we have too many poor people. They don’t have enough money, they can’t feed themselves, they don’t have any hope because they don’t know what’s coming down the road. ” Sean McCann, trauma psychotherapist***

In part three of The Ferret investigates…the health gap – a three-part special podcast from The Ferret media co-op and [Greater Govanhill magazine](https://www.greatergovanhill.com/?ref=theferret.scot) – we turn our attention to the mental wellbeing of young and middle aged men, another issue driving health inequalities in Scotland.

[In Scotland](https://www.theferret.scot/how-stark-are-scotlands-health-inequalities/), men in the most deprived areas have a life expectancy of almost 14 years less than those in the most affluent areas. Of the [753 people](https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files/statistics/probable-suicides/2021/suicides-21-report.pdf?ref=theferret.scot) that completed suicide in 2021, three quarters were men.

In this episode we hear from James, a joiner from Glasgow, about his struggles with his mental health and Bill Hill of [the Lighthouse charity](https://www.lighthouseclub.org/?ref=theferret.scot) tells us about the way the construction industry, which is currently losing two workers to suicide every day, has been forced to mobilise to save lives.

We also visit San Francisco’s [Harm Reduction Therapy Center](https://harmreductiontherapy.org/?ref=theferret.scot) and find out how offering people struggling with substance use therapy on the street is dismantling the myth that some are hard to reach.

In the studio our hosts are joined by Linda Birnie of [Mikey’s Line](https://www.mikeysline.co.uk/?ref=theferret.scot) which offers suicide prevention and a helpline across the Highlands and was set up following the tragic death of two friends, Martin Shaw and Michael Williamson.

Other guests include Graeme Callander of [We Are With You](https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/?ref=theferret.scot), a charity which works with people struggling with their mental health, or alcohol or substance use and psychotherapist Sean McCann, who also works for Strathclyde University.

You can find all three episodes of The Ferret investigates…the health gap on [The Ferret](https://www.theferret.scot/the-ferret-investigates-podcast/) or wherever you get your podcasts.

#### **Podcast credits:**

***Hosts: Karin Goodwin, of The Ferret and Samar Jamal, of Greater Govanhill magazine***

***Interviews: Karin Goodwin***

***Production: Halina Rifai and Karin Goodwin***

***Episode editing and sound: Halina Rifai***

***Music: Loris S. Sarid***

***Package about the Harm Reduction Therapy Center***

***Reporting, sound recording and writing: Karin Goodwin***

***Editing and sound design: Flora Zajicek***

*Main image: sculpies/iStock*

**This article is part of our [Mind the Health Gap project](https://www.theferret.scot/tag/mind-the-health-gap/), funded by the European Journalism Centre, through the Solutions Journalism Accelerator – a fund supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.**