Video interview: how rap can be a life-saver for young men's mental health

As spokesman Tom Hines explains: “Room to Rant is a Sussex-wide young men's rap and spoken word project for ages 16-25. The project is designed to provide a safe and supportive space for young men to explore their emotions and get things off their chest through the power of spoken word and rap.

“The sessions include a YMCA counsellor embedded within the project to provide guidance and support to the young men who participate with the option of one-to-one work.

“We aim to break down the stigma surrounding mental health by promoting self-care and understanding. Through powerful lyrics and personal storytelling, the young men in Room to Rant share their experiences and struggles, encouraging their peers to seek help when needed.”

There are weekly informal drop-in sessions in Eastbourne, Worthing, Brighton and Crawley. Sign up at https://audioactive.org.uk/room-to-rant. Eastbourne is Mondays 18:00-20:00 at Leaf Hall, 51 Seaside, Eastbourne, BN22 7NB; Worthing is Tuesdays 18:30-20:30 at AudioActive, Worthing, BN11 3BN; Brighton is Wednesdays 18:30-20:30 at Bottega Rooms, BN2 3LH; and Crawley is Thursdays 18:00-20:00 at Crawley Museum, RH10 1DD.

Tom said: “I work for AudioActive, a youth music charity that was started in Brighton and we've always had a lot of hip hop and rap stuff going on.

"We do a range of things and we do a lot of artist development but we've always had a lot of success with rap stuff and I think it is just because it is so very much word based. We also do a lot of one-to-one mentoring and there's so much that you can unpack. And we were talking across the sector about mental health and young men in particular and just the fact that with rap we have a vessel where young men were already talking so we we decided to start this as a separate project. I think men in general are not so good at talking about their feelings and certainly young men in particular. I think it's a real issue. There's a real stigma around mental health and men’s strength and vulnerability. I think young men are not prone to engage with professionals and seek help or refer themselves for the talking therapies. There is a fixed perception about manliness. The conversations are getting better but it's really important to get young men to realise that the sooner they can start talking the better.”

It has been shown that the average age at which young men will start to discuss sexual abuse that they've suffered in their early years is when they are in their 50s: “It really does take that long. It is not just about sexual health, though. It is just about talking more. There are so many issues right across the board. Substance misuse is one of them and the suicide contagion is terrifying as well. There is a real danger and a real risk, and we have experienced that a lot and we know that once that happens to one person then you really have to watch for the other friends within that circle as well. There is real risk and I don't think the pandemic has helped. I think young people were disproportionately affected and I do think we've seen a surge in disclosure after the pandemic when people have started engaging again.

"But there has been a massive increase in school refusal and I think once you start on that it's very hard to re-engage and so you get the social anxiety and just the sheer inability of re-engaging again.”

And this is why rap can help so much: “I have been involved in rap for many years and we know that there's a lot of camaraderie in rap, a lot of community, a lot of supportive help alongside the healthy competition that you get with rap. We know that it's something that can really help.”

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