'Our main goal is to save at least one life': Belfast man launches clothing brand to break the stigma around mental health
East Belfast entrepreneur Ben Bennett has founded JustMental to encourage openness around mental health and help people feel less alone
A Belfast man has launched a clothing brand that helps get people talking about their mental health.
Ben Bennett, from East Belfast started JustMental on November 25 and hopes to inspire people to stop living in silence with their mental health struggles.
He explained: “Our main goal is to save at least one life. We want to be there to make a difference in someone’s lives and if they see our apparel it could change their life. We aim to spread more awareness and get the conversation started.”
The clothing brand is accompanied by a podcast called JustMentalTalk which started in September which explains how Ben’s dad Karl’s mental health crises in August 2024 sparked the idea for the brand.
On the podcast’s first episode Karl explains how his brother and his son were so worried about him that they had already made funeral arrangements after a doctor had said he might not make it through the night from being so unwell.
Ben adds how his personal struggles with mental health, made him want to get more conversations started and create openness between people to talk about their feelings: “I’ve always struggled with mental health myself, I’ve been in the system through multiple therapists and on different antidepressants. I’ve experienced it in my family too with my grandad, my father, so I’ve kind of always been around it all my life.”
Ben explains how he has always aspired to be a fashion designer and this way he is able to achieving his dreams whilst making a positive impact on his community.
He believes there is not enough support out there for people struggling and he wants to raise awareness of the issue by addressing the backlog of mental health services in Northern Ireland.
He explained: “Going to the GP feels like, ‘I need help in nine months’ you don’t go to the GP for that, you go to them when you need it. After the long waiting periods, you only have six one-hour sessions and that’s it. It’s not enough.”
There are more episodes of the podcast coming out in the following weeks, providing more in-depth conversations about mental health and featuring special guests.
He added: “If somebody did see the back of one of my hoodies, I would like them to feel hope. I would like them to feel like they are not alone. I would like them to feel like maybe they can get better, maybe life is more than this feeling that I am feeling right now.”
Ben donates a percentage of his profits to charity and he is self-funded, to donate to his GoFundMe visit https://gofund.me/70fb5244b.