This week is Men’s Health Week and coincides with the launch of our latest school’s programme on mental wellbeing.
This new programme uses drama and discussion workshops to help students in Key Stage 3 to understand mental health, know where to get support and develop strategies for wellbeing.
One of the important decisions we made when developing this work was to focus on the story of a young man and his mental health. The programme was developed with young people, teachers, academics and other mental health professionals and the need for more work that addressed male mental health came through really strongly.
The Men’s Health Forum highlight that although women are more likely to be diagnosed with common mental disorders, there are important factors that affect how men ask for help or deal with poor mental health.
- Just over three out of four suicides (76%) are by men and suicide is the biggest cause of death for men under 35 (Reference: ONS)
- 12.5% of men in the UK are suffering from one of the common mental health disorders
- Men are nearly three times more likely than women to become alcohol dependent (8.7% of men are alcohol dependent compared to 3.3% of women
- Men are less likely to access support than women. Only 36% of referrals to psychological therapies are men.
Our new programme provides an opportunity for a male character to share their experiences, build empathy and help young men (and of course young women) to realise that they are not alone or the only ones to feel that way. The workshop and support materials help students to talk accurately and sensitively about mental health and develop great ideas for how they can work on their own wellbeing.
For more information on this programme contact us on 0121 446 4880 or e mail us at info@loudmouth.co.uk