Black Country boxers take the fight to mental health and raise awareness in powerful new film project

For the past five years he and his pals have been driving the conversation on men’s mental health, encouraging friends and strangers to open up on their struggles through their podcast, The Black Country Blokes.

Recorded every week at Lions Boxing Club, where Dillon is head coach, it began as “just four blokes wanting to talk” but has grown into something much more powerful. Last month they were given the King’s Award, the highest honour available to voluntary groups.

“I never ever thought we’d get it, we are just a little spit and sawdust podcast,” says the ever humble Dillon. “When I was told the news, I just thought: ‘wow’.”

While Dillon, his podcast partner and lifelong friend Lee Cadman are proud of the recognition, awards have never been their motivation. As Dillon himself puts it: “If I wanted badges, I’d still be in the cub scouts.”

Even so, the honour is fully deserved, such is the impact The Black Country Blokes have had on the numerous initiatives and projects they have either established or thrown their weight behind.

The podcast was started in 2019 following a conversation between Dillon and Cadman, in which both discussed their own struggles with mental health. Dillon is blind in one eye and partially sighted in the other and in previous interviews has been completely up front about the problems he has faced.

The pair were initially joined by friends Craig Pinches and Aren Deu and through the weekly podcast and accompanying radio show on Black Country Xtra, promoted countless charity groups and good causes.

Yet they’ve also come up with some effective ideas of their own. During the pandemic, the Lions gym hosted a weekly support group where men could discuss in confidence their problems. Dillon also created Furlough Club, free boxing sessions for those hardest hit by the pandemic.

“The organisations I speak to tell us we talk to the men they often can’t reach,” he says.

“I am in the boxing club every day, working with people who don’t want to go and see a doctor, don’t want to go and talk to their wife. 

“We are their first step in actually having a conversation. Then we can direct them to some great organisations I have built up a friendship with through the podcast.

“All we ever wanted was to be true to ourselves. There are no gimmicks. It is about getting real people to talk.”

Dillon views his latest project as among his most ambitious and important yet. This Is Me, a 16-minute video released earlier this month on YouTube, is aimed at tackling male suicide.

“It’s the biggest killer of men aged under 50 in the UK,” says Dillon. “This is something we can stop. Something we have to stop.”

Funded by Creative Black Country and filmed by local photographer Kate Green inside the ring at the Lions club, the video has been around a year in the making. It takes the form of a series of monologues in which Dillon, fellow coaches and boxers from the club and the wider amateur boxing community along with members of the public discuss their own experiences with mental health and the struggles they each face in daily life.

Each monologue is split into three, beginning with the speaker describing “me on a good day” but then detailing the emotions and issues which can cause them to have a bad day, before ending with an explanation of “why I won’t throw in the towel”.

It is a simple idea, brilliantly executed and its power lies in the honesty of those talking. That reaches its peak when one of the gym’s young coaches reveals he is a suicide survivor.

“I’m always coming up with ideas and I am always thinking about what I can do,” says Dillon. 

“I got this idea from looking at social media and seeing how often it is all champagne and caviar and glorious. So much of it is ‘aren’t I doing great?’ and more often than not, that is not the case.

“This video shows while I am confident and proud, I also suffer from depression, I also have panic attacks. It is showing people what is behind the front. 

“People often say to me: ‘It is easy for you, Kev’. Nothing is easy for me. Inside, I am like a crying clown.”

The youngest speaker in the video is 12-years-old and the eldest 67.

“I started phoning up friends and asking if they wanted to be involved,” says Dillon “It is amazing the number of people who stuck their hands up and said yes. 

“But there were also people who said they didn’t have the courage to do it. They need their facade and don’t want people to see they are struggling. Those are the people we are trying to get to.”

In addition to the full length version, a different monologue is being released each day through December and January on TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook. 

“It’s like an advent calendar, with a difference,” explains Dillon, who has got other friends to record their own versions on phones as part of the project.

“The original idea, before we got funding, was to do it all on phones,” he adds. “But I still think it has a purpose as 18 minutes is a long time for people to watch these days. This way you get 60 seconds pop up on your phone each day.”

“The people involved are all from different backgrounds, colours and creeds, showing mental health can affect anyone,” continues Dillon.

“This time of year is when the suicide rates go through the roof. Christmas is a great time of the year, if it’s a great time of the year. But it can be a bloody awful time for people, if it isn’t.

“I want this project to show there is someone every day going through it as well, showing you are not alone.”

This is Me is available on YouTube. For more information on The Black Country Blokes visit blackcountryblokes.co.uk