Welcome to National Men's Health Week 2006
June 12 - 18
'Men and Mental Wellbeing'
Please take the time to read this document before going on to explore the contents of this Resource Pack
Quick links:
- Introduction
- NMHW2006
- About the Resource Pack
- “How to . . .” Guides
- Future Plans and Up-dates
- About the Haynes Brain Manual
- Contacting us
- Finally
National Men's Health Week (NMHW) was first held in June 2002 and since then grown in size and impact, firmly establishing itself as a key part of the health improvement calendar. Each year NMHW focuses on a different area of policy relevant to men’s health. Previous weeks have looked at:
- Male health in general (2002)
- Men and sexual health (2003)
- Men and cancer (2004)
- Men and obesity (2005)
National Men’s Health Week 2006 will be the fifth such event in Scotland. As in previous years, NMHW will take place in the week leading up to Father’s Day – with this year’s dates being June 12 – 18.
NMHW2006 will also form part of the fourth International Men’s Health Week with activities again taking place in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, USA as well as throughout Europe. Links during NMHW, within Europe will be particularly strengthened due to the work of the European Men's Health Forum (for more information please go to: www.emhf.org). The theme for Men’s Health Week throughout Europe is also mental wellbeing. The Week is also supported by the International Society for Men’s Health
National Men’s Health Week 2006
The theme for NMHW 2006 will be men and mental wellbeing. One in four of us in Scotland will experience mental health problems at some point in our lives. Work-related stress affects about one in five workers (some five million people) and stress-related conditions are now the commonest reported cause of sickness absence. Improving access to services, creating healthy workplaces and improving mental and emotional well-being are part of the government’s strategy to tackle mental health problems.
Mental health has also been identified as an important issue at the pan-European level, as evidenced by the UK’s and 51 other states’ support for the WHO Mental Health Declaration for Europe (2005).
Men can find it particularly hard to talk about their feelings (indeed, they have sometimes been described as ‘emotionally illiterate’) and are reluctant to seek or receive professional help for their mental health problems. This includes both medical and psychological services. These services have also, in general, showed a limited understanding of how to work with men effectively on mental health issues.
Some examples of mental health issues particular to men include:
- Suicide is on the increase in Scotland. The suicide rate in Scotland is higher than in England and in Wales (there is no single known reason for this) and in recent years suicide has been a bigger killer of young Scottish men than road traffic accidents. In 2004, men accounted for 73 % of all suicides in Scotland.
- Young African and Caribbean men (especially second generation) are much more likely to receive a diagnosis of schizophrenia, are more likely to be detained under the Mental Health Act and less likely to be offered psychological treatments
- Studies suggest that depression occurs as often in men as in women yet doctors are less likely to diagnose men with depression than women
- One in seven men who becomes unemployed will develop depression within six months and men are more likely than women to experience long-term unemployment
- Men make up 96 per cent of the UK prison population – an environment in which mental health problems are particularly prevalent
- Men often misuse addictive drugs, especially alcohol, in an attempt to deal with emotional health problems. This can, in turn, create new problems, not least with physical health and anti-social behaviour.
- Boys are much more likely than girls to be diagnosed with hyperactivity and to receive medication.
NMHW will seek to raise awareness about these and other issues. However it will not be negative, focusing on the problems that exist but will instead seek to promote a positive view of how the problems can be tackled by highlighting – and encouraging – good practice in a wide variety of settings, including primary care, the workplace and the local community. It will signpost how health professionals and others working with men can seek to improve their health outcomes. A key aim will be to demonstrate how men’s emotional literacy, wellbeing and resilience can be enhanced and increased.
The benefits to individual men of improved mental wellbeing will include:
- Simply feeling better.
- Improved relationships.
- Higher levels of achievement at work.
- Coping better with stress.
- Increased protection against mental illness.
- Better physical health.
- A better sex life.
- Earlier help-seeking for mental health problems
The NMHW2006 resource pack broadly follows the same structure as the 2005 version. However, there are several important new aspects to this resource pack, including a section on diversity and an area in which some relevant research has been collated.
We have deliberately dispensed with the usual idea of supplying you with prescriptive guides on how to organise events. We are confident that most people who will explore this Resource Pack are perfectly capable of running successful events in their local areas without any help from us. However, by following the link below you will find a number of documents that give some background advice on running an event (this includes advice on working with the media and a guide to fundraising for local activity):
Advice on running a successful event
If you are interested in signing up for regular information from Men’s Health Forum Scotland, click on this link to be taken to the email updates page.
The main target audience for the book is men of all ages and backgrounds who are interested in becoming more aware of wellbeing, in the broadest sense. Health professionals will also be able to use the book as a health promotion and education resource.
For information on how to order discounted copies please email Matthew Maycock at MHF England and Wales.
Click here for more information and downloadable pdfs of the manual.
As you can imagine, we anticipate being very busy in the run-up to NMHW2006 and especially so during the Week itself. We will endeavor to answer all enquiries as quickly and efficiently as we can but it would certainly help if you could contact us, in the first instance at least - by e-mail.
The address to use is:
It might also be that the answers to some of your questions can be found on our website at:-
or at the Men’s Health Forum England and Wales site:
We suggest that you go next to the How to Use this Resource Pack guide before moving on to look at the Contents section. The latter should enable you to choose and print out the various individual sheets that you need to help make your local planning a success.
Thank you for your continuing commitment to this important work - and good luck with whatever you decide to do!