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'We Just Don't Talk About It': How Movember Plans to Help Men’s Mental Health

The famous mustache non-profit has launched a new campaign to improve male mental health, which correlates to suicide rates and violence in relationships.
Photo courtesy of Movember

Society gives men numerous bonuses—higher pay, larger governmental representation—but males take their own lives at a higher rate than women. In 2012, men constitute three quarters of suicides in the United Kingdom and 79 percent of suicides in the United States, according to the Guardian. Women also outlive men: In a blog for Harvard Medical School, associate professor Robert H. Shmerling reports that women make up 67 percent of 85-year-olds.

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The non-profit Movember Foundation wants to better men's mental health. "We're losing the battle," says Movember co-founder Adam Garone. "Suicide rates are going up for men." Most people already know his organization for encouraging men to not shave in November to raise awareness for cancer. But in honor of World Suicide Prevention Day, they have launched a video and campaign to encourage men to improve their mental health.

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They based their new programs on a 2015 Prevention Institute report called "Making Connections for Mental Health and Wellbeing Among Men and Boys in the US." The study found that the stresses and risks of American society may lead to male psychological issues; that boys and men of color are at greater risk for mental health problems, and military servicemen, veterans, and their families live through trauma at a disproportionate rate, alongside other underrecognized issues.

Movember has teamed with the Prevention Institute to create new programs that begin with identifying the causes. As everyone who has ever dated a man knows, men hate discussing their personal problems. Garone views the behavior as a huge factor in their poor health. "It's complex, but a big part of it is the way we're conditioned to talk," he says. "We just bottle stuff up and prefer to deal with it ourselves." Many men, he believes, fail to recognize they suffer from depression because they're poorly educated about the issues and symptoms. Movember argues that better mental health has multiple benefits for men: "We know that men's health leads to men leading longer and happier lives," Garone says.

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Photo courtesy of Stocksy

Mental healthy problems can begin in boyhood. "Often they're going through physical or psychological abuse at home and nobody's recognizing that," says Randall Henry, the project leader for Movember's Making Connections project with the Violence Prevention Coalition in LA. "Nobody at the school is taking notice of, 'Wow. This kid's in really bad shape and doing something about it.' We're going in and creating support to prevent those kinds of environments." Henry runs programs that teach positive behavior at schools. When boys get older, the programs then teach them readiness training.

For programs aimed at grown men, Movember goes into the workplace to teach men communication skills. "One of the biggest things we can do is talk when things get tough, talk with our friends and our family," Garone says. "A big part of this is around connectedness, ensuring men maintain a good social network." Males need friends because adult life—work, romantic relationships, and finances—can cause triggers for mental health issues. Men's problems can impact women in negative ways.

**Read more: How *Masculinity* Is Killing Men**

"Some of the conditioning of men is feelings about needing to be in control, which influences domestic violence, for sure," Garone says.

Movember also wants to help LGBTQ men and men of color, who are at even higher risks for suicide. Surveys show that 41 percent of trans people have attempted suicide where only 4.6 percent of the US population has attempted suicide. "More gay and transgender men take their lives," Garone says. "One of the other tricks around sexual orientation is you have big transitional moments in your life where you're not sure which path you're going. That could be sexual orientation, it could be relationships, it could be job offers, it could be becoming a dad." Like straight men, LGBTQ men also must talk about their problems.

"The first thing we've got to do is highlight the gravity of the issue," Garone says. "We just don't talk about it."