Talking men's mental health and honouring the memory of two big Liverpool fans

What’s great about Liverpool and Merseyside is that no matter who you support, whether Red or Blue, is that people stand together on the bigger, more important things than what happens out on the pitch.Yet another example of that is the special event taking place at the O2 Academy in the city centre on Friday night.Called Talk Tonight, it features some of the best bands and acts in Liverpool, and it’s been inspired by the death of big Liverpool supporters, Michael Woodburn and Neil ‘Yozza’ Hughes.84 men take their own lives per week in the UK, and the event aims to help break the stigma of mental health and suicide – as well as raising money for two very worthy local causes.For the podcast, Paul Wheelock speaks to one of the organisers of the event, Chris Tyrrell, and then Scouse footballer Kevin Ellison.The 39-year-old Morecambe forward opened up about his own mental health issues in the summer.Back then we interviewed Kevin for a special podcast to talk about why he went public on his eight-year battle with depression.And we picked up the phone to the boyhood Liverpool fan again this week to talk about the reaction to his initial posts on Twitter – and the fact that more and more footballers are coming out and talking about mental health.You can buy Talk Tonight tickets from www.seetickets.com. They cost £22.50 and all proceeds will go to Paul’s Place and James’ Place.And if you need mental health and suicide support, the NHS has compiled a list of free helplines, the details for which can be obtained at www.nhs.uk/conditions/suicide/ For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices