It is always easy to be too conscious of one group with protected characteristics, and ignore the others, and I would imagine that many of us did not know that International Men’s Day is today, 19th November, and indeed November is Men’s Mental Health month.
We have all seen a deterioration in overall mental health following the pandemic and following significant political events which affect the influences on us, whatever our political leanings and beliefs. But today, without discriminating, we are focusing on the men.
Data shows that 1 in 8 men are struggling with mental health and out of 4 suicides, 3 are committed by men. Of course, we cannot continually focus on one particular group, but raising awareness is the first step to improving the way we handle challenges. Many organisations have appointed mental health first aiders and more frequently these days employers are conscious about the importance of a healthy and happy workforce which includes pre-emptive action with regard to mental health and being a supportive employer to help develop resilience.
In fact, we have developed a workshop on developing resilience as it is such an important quality and the techniques for developing resilience are going to help us all. It is better to be pre-emptive than wait until a mental health issue is sufficiently severe that it is obvious. Sometimes we don’t even ourselves know or stop to think about our mental health and issues creep up unawares like liquid rising in a cup. If you would like to talk about resilience training, then please do get in touch.
Meanwhile, I will leave you with a few interesting facts. Loneliness is a big factor in mental health and affects all genders. In 1990, research indicated that 3% of men reported that they had no close friends and this percentage rose to 15% in 2021.
An interesting quote from an article I read, included the following: “The health risks [of loneliness] are as bad as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day and even greater than those associated with obesity and physical inactivity”.
If resilience is an area you would like your business to focus on, please do get in touch.
