Torch Song - Murisan Family

BTS help people, it's a fact, they help through their words, their songs their actions and just being who they are.

It's also fair to say that they themselves represent the most under supported gender in terms of mental health care.

They have never been shy in talking about how they feel, the hardships they have gone through and how they have come out the other side.

We at BTS Radio UK wanted to come together with ARMY across the world to support a charity wholly focused on the mental health of men, preventing suicide and supporting the families affected by male mental health.

WHAT IS CALM?

We are the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) and we’re leading a movement against suicide, the single biggest killer of men under the age of 45 in the UK through frontline services, national campaigns, and by building communities.

WHY?

·         6,507 people died by suicide in 2018 (ONS)

·         Every day on average 17 people take their own life in the UK and three in every four suicides are male (ONS)

·         Of men under the age of 45 in the UK, more than 4 in 10 have contemplated taking their own life, but fewer than half these men told anyone how they were feeling (YouGov)

·         Only 55% of men who’ve experienced depression will tell anyone about it, compared to 67% of women (CALM’s Masculinity Audit 2016).

·         84% of men say they bottle up their emotions (YouGov)

HOW?

CALM takes an active and positive approach to changing this unacceptable picture:

1. We operate on the front line, delivering services for anyone in crisis or distress, supporting the people around them who are looking for advice, and those bereaved by suicide
2. We campaign for long-term culture change to help raise awareness of suicide and change a culture where some people feel they can’t ask, or shouldn’t, ask for help when they’re down.
3. We spread our message and facilitate supportive spaces in workplaces, universities, pubs, clubs and prisons across the country – so that people feel empowered to share their experiences and get the help they need before they reach the point of crisis.

THE CALM APPROACH

CALM is a platform for expression and collaboration, where we actively reject living miserably to embrace and celebrate all interpretations of masculinity. 

CALM PROVIDES 

Frontline services

·         Anyone can hit crisis point. We run a free and confidential helpline and webchat – 7 hours a day, 7 days a week for anyone who needs to talk about life’s problems

·         We support those bereaved by suicide, through the Support After Suicide Partnership (SASP)

·         theCALMzone.net is CALM’s website, hosting inspiring content alongside information and support

Campaigns

·         Everyone has a part to play. We campaign with media partners, brands and ambassadors to spread awareness of suicide and its devastating impact with campaigns like #Project84, #DontBottleItUp and The Best Man Project. We challenge boring male stereotypes and encourage positive behavioural change and help-seeking behaviour, using cultural touch points like art, music, sport and comedy

OUR IMPACT

·         CALM’s helpline and webchat services directly prevented 675 suicides in 2018

·         Since CALM was founded in 2006, awareness of male suicide has quadrupled and currently sits at 45% nationally

·         CALM supports in excess of 10,000 contacts on the helpline and webchat each month

WHERE THE MONEY GOES

·         £8     Enables CALM to answer one potentially life-saving call

·         £24   Provides support materials to 4 families who have lost someone to suicide

·         £109 Equips a volunteer with vital training and ongoing support to spread the CALM message across the UK

·         £440 Trains and equips a professional helpline worker to speak to people in crisis

thecalmzone.net | @thecalmzone

We are hoping you will donate towards this wonderful charity and the work it is doing, here https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/bts-radio-uk-mybtstorchsong

To thank you for your support we approached some male army to talk about their experiences of mental health, they have kindly sent us their BTS songs that have become their torch songs, songs that touch you and get you through those moments something CALM knows about through their torch songs campaign.  #whatsyourtorchsong 

Read and share their stories, thank them for their honesty, donate and listen to their joint playlist here: #MyBTSTorchSong in support of CALM

The Murisans are a family from New Jersey, USA, who started vlogging on YouTube in February. Josh and Caitlin first reacted to BTS after their performance on Saturday Night Live in April 2019. They were then inundated with messages from ARMY asking them to watch and react to more videos. They reacted to an introduction to BTS video and fell under their spell, with Josh finding a personal connection to Yoongi after hearing his story.

Murisan Family Reacts

The stigma of men’s mental health is started from a young age when we tell boys as children to toughen up and not cry. They think being macho and "manly" is the only way to grow up. My wife lost an uncle to suicide two days before her birthday and her older brother struggles daily and has been in and out of the hospital. We need to start telling men it’s OK to ask for help. They don't need to be tough and handle and fix the problems on their own.

Our song list was hard to pick just 10 because BTS music speaks to us but...

1. Love Yourself 

2. Reflection - These were big because it’s hard to always love everything about yourself and not see the flaws but BTS reminds us we need to look within and be happy with who we are.

3. Sea 

4. Whalien 52 - because when you feel like you’re alone and need a voice you should speak up and have your voice be heard.

5. N.O - when you think you aren’t meeting the expectations of where you think you need to be in life from the older generations it makes you feel burdened but to find true happiness is to follow your own path.

6. Everythinggoes - because everythinggoes and eventually comes to an end 

7. Young Forever 

8. Euphoria - is a reminder of our family 

9. Lie 

10. Forever rain 

11. Stigma 

12. Epiphany 

13. Save me 

14. Move

You can follow the Murisan Family on their following social platforms:

Twitter: @Murisanvlogs
Instagram: @murisanfamilyvlogs
YouTube: The Murisan's Family Vlogs