MEN’S mental health has come more into the spotlight in recent years, and for good reason, but a Portland woman hopes to be able to translate words into deeds in the near future.

Nea Barclay is in the early stages of organising a fundraising ball – titled A Beautiful Mind – scheduled to take place at the Portland Golf Club on September 2 – with a few ideas for what she hopes will be a lot of funds raised.

Ms Barclay is the widow of Jarrod Barclay, who took his own life in March last year.

And he was not alone – statistics show nine Australians a day take their own lives, and of those seven are male.

That led the mother-of-two to step up to raise awareness of the issues and to educate people while encouraging them to talk.

She initially did that with a highly-successful fundraising event at the Heywood Golf Club – Mr Barclay’s home away from home – in December, with $6000 raised for the Black Dog Institute.

But there needed to be more – and there was.

“It was actually just before the gold day, I had a few ideas that popped into my head about creating awareness,” Ms Barclay said.

“I came across Wellways and spoke to them about the golf day and they said they would be able to assist.

“I got in contact with them when I was ready to start planning the ball earlier this year.”

The ball is set to feature musical entertainment by local duo Dean Outtram and Damon Yuill, a guest speaker from the Shaka Project (a men’s mental health organisation of which Ms Barclay is an ambassador) and a three-course meal from Four Plates catering.

And Ms Barclay is hoping the public will support the idea.

“Obviously being in Portland people won’t have to travel,” she said.

“Certainly since my husband died I’ve really noticed the lack of knowledge (of men’s mental health) around the community so there’s definitely a need for an event to take place.”

The idea behind the ball – scheduled about the same time as R U OK Day and World Suicide Prevention Day – is to raise funds so longer-lasting programs can be implemented in the community

While those haven’t been finalised yet some ideas include funding a mental health professional to facilitate a monthly support group for men struggling with their mental health or delivering programs at local workplaces and sporting clubs that raise awareness of mental health within those organisations.

“They’re just examples,” Ms Barclay said.

“Once we’ve worked out how much money has been raised we can work out what to do.

“And depending on how the ball goes, I’d be quite happy to organise more (the Heywood Golf Club had indicated it would like to run its event annually as well).”

Tickets for the ball will be $95 each of $850 for a table for 10, but Ms Barclay hopes sponsorship can cover many of the costs, leaving the ticket sales to go to the fundraising kitty.

Assets Real Estate and Dhauwurd-Wurrung Elderly and Community Health Service (Ms Barclay’s employer) have already jumped on board as sponsors.

“I’m certainly looking for other sponsors as well – obviously the more money that can be raised the more funds go back into the community,” she said.

“Also if you’re a larger business we’d like sponsorship but also you could help out by purchasing a table.

“Obviously also the more businesses that attend, they’re taking the message back to their workplace and it shows employees it’s a safe space to talk about your mental health.”

For more information or to inquire about sponsorship contact Ms Barclay at neafletcher@outlook.com.

● Support is available for anyone in distress by contacting Lifeline on 131 114, MensLine on 1300 789 978 (or online at mensline.org.au), or Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800 (or at kidshelpline.com.au).