Men Matter, a subsidiary of Project Being Human, focuses on addressing mental and emotional health issues affecting men. In light of concerning statistics, which often reflect only reported cases, the true extent of men’s mental health challenges may be significantly underestimated. By 2021, 70% of suicide cases were reported to involve men, highlighting a critical need for targeted support and awareness initiatives to better understand and address these issues.
Society’s expectations and traditional gender roles play a role in why men are less likely to discuss or seek help for their mental and emotional health challenges. We know that gender stereotypes about women – the idea they should behave or look a certain way, for example – can be damaging to them. But it’s important to understand that stereotypes and expectations can also be damaging to men.
Any approach to mental health that’s going to work must be adapted to the audience – one size doesn’t fit all, whether it’s mental health services, campaigning messages or community resources. We’ve been working closely with mental health therapists and organizations now to understand what works in mental health and apply research evidence in practice.
The population with the highest frequency of deaths by suicide is middle-aged men. If we want to prevent men from dying by suicide – and we must – we need to look at what factors affect men’s mental health and how we can help more men to find help and support. When they do, they must be able to get any benefit from mental health services that meet their needs just like youths and women. Too often, that isn’t the case. We know that men are less likely to ask for help due to the lack of safe space, biasness, judgements and stereotype beliefs that tough men don’t feel.
Men often feel societal pressure to be the alpha, breadwinner, and always in control. This pressure can make it challenging for men to open up and seek help when they are struggling with their mental and emotional well-being. Unfortunately, this lack of support can lead to breakdowns and even suicide. Men Matter is an initiative that aims to reduce and prevent unmanaged chronic stress and suppressions of emotions that can lead to mental health crises for men. The program offers accessible, no-frills therapy in a safe space where men can speak up, be heard, and validated without judgment or bias.
The Men Matter initiative is focused on creating a community that welcomes, accepts, and embraces men as human beings who need support for their mental and emotional well-being. The program offers group therapy, individual therapy for men-at-risk who are struggling to afford therapy, corporate and educational outreach to raise awareness and emphasize the importance of men’s mental and emotional health. Our goal is to provide support that is unbiased, unjudgmental, and accessible. Our programs are led by certified therapists, practitioners, and experienced social workers who are dedicated to offering a safe space for men to be humans.
By reducing chronic stress, emotional challenges, and unmanaged mental health issues, we can reduce the number of clinical mental health diagnoses and suicide rates in Singapore. Our initiative aspires to end the stigma surrounding discrimination towards men’s mental and emotional health and suicide, ultimately saving lives. With the support of individuals like you, Men Matter can bring awareness to our initiative, provide support services and therapies, and generate funds to ensure our support is available to as many people as possible. Together, we can create constructive conversations, collaborate on life-saving services, and bring people together so they know it is okay for men to not be okay and that help is available.
We aim to end the stigma around men’s mental and emotional health and suicide, ultimately saving lives. With your support, we can raise awareness through accessible support services, therapies, and community outreach to reach more people. We collaborate to run life-saving services, provide psychoeducation, and bring people together to create constructive conversations. It’s okay for men to not be okay, and we want to ensure they know that help is available to prevent suicide. Collectively, we can end discrimination toward men’s mental health and ensure that support is accessible to all who need it.
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