"The Right Words"

1 October 2026

60s

Tacit acknowledgement.

Thankfully, the constant emphasis on "male mental health" seems to be at an end. That's not to say that this scourge is being neglected... far from it. It's just that there finally seems to be a recognition of the harm caused by referring to it explicitly.

This is undoubtedly a good thing, and you sense that director Greg Hackett fully grasped the need to approach the issue with sensitivity and restraint when you watch this film urging people to make the Samaritans a beneficiary in their wills.

The stoicism of men is thought to be a major contributor to the dire consequences of their inability to speak up when they are struggling with mental health, and this film acknowledges that without burdening the audience with doom. Instead, the recognition of its danger is reduced to a remark so casually delivered that it could almost be considered throwaway. It's no such thing, of course, as both men clearly understand the gravity of what has been acknowledged.

The work of the Samaritans, especially around suicide prevention, is invaluable and sufficiently well known that it has become a dark-humoured punchline, but that is a reflection of the importance of what its operators do. They save lives. Literally.

Work like this is a reminder of the role played by this vital charity, and of the good we are doing when we remember them in our wills.

UK

Charities