Tom Chapman

The Lions Barber Collective

In this podcast we talk to Tom Chapman of the The Lions Club Barber Collective which is a suicide prevention and awareness charity.

The Lions Club Collective Barber Collective is a group of international barbers that provide an informal way to talk about men’s mental health. Tom Chapman is a Torquay-based barber who has made it his mission to propel the stigma of mental ill health among men into the mainstream.

Barbers are in a unique position to help their clients, through the trust and bond they build with them. There is an incredibly strong relationship  between client and barber, where clients become friends and can share aspect of their lives with them, then walk out the shop and leave it behind knowing it goes no further because of client confidentiality and the fact that barbers are often not in their social circle.

In 2015 founded the Lions Barber Collective, an international group of barbers who have undergone training in how to recognise symptoms of mental ill health in clients and signpost them to relevant support services. The group helps to raise awareness of mental illness and aims to prevent suicide by creating training that enables barbers to recognise, talk and listen out for symptoms of depression.

Tom’s idea started off by collecting images for a barber lookbook that would raise money for charity, when someone suggested raising awareness for suicide. This suggestion recommendation hit Tom personally as he had lost a friend a year previous to suicide and he became aware that he didnt know of any charities that were suicide related locally.

We hope you enjoy Tom’s story of how The Lions Barber Collective has grown and has become such an amazing charity and movement, preventing one suicide at a time.

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