“We have this American myth of the lone cowboy on the prairie—the notion that men aren’t supposed to need anyone else. Of course, this is ridiculous.”
Prevention Institute is pleased to announce a new partnership with the Movember Foundation. The focus of our work together will be to meet men and boys where they are, in their community, to promote resilience across generations. To accomplish this, we will focus on community-level, community-driven solutions that promote mental health and well-being for men and boys. Together, we will determine the best ways to enact positive change in the community, and we will announce these mental health programs over the coming months. As the lead coordinating organization for the Movember Foundation’s U.S.-based mental health work, we will focus on prevention.
This partnership comes on the heels of a new, detailed landscape report on the current state of mental health for American men and boys report. Developed by Prevention Institute for the Movember Foundation, Making Connections for Mental Health and Well-Being among Men and Boys in the U.S. was developed to inform a strategic direction. It was informed by interviews and a literature review. Across the interviews and the reports reviewed, there was remarkable consistency in themes, trends and challenges. Here are a few…
Selected findings about the challenges:
• American society produces anxiety and is full of risk and stressors.
• The socialization of men and boys in the U.S. is at odds with advancing their mental health and well-being.
• Disconnection and isolation—from community, peers, family, children and culture—are major factors that undermine men’s mental health.
• Trauma and its associated symptoms of mental and psychological illness are more prevalent in the U.S. than in most other countries around the world.
• Boys and men of color are disproportionately impacted by trauma in the U.S. and this has far-reaching implications.
• There is a conflation between stigma, male socialization and individual responsibility.
Selected findings that will inform solutions moving forward:
• Prevention programs are effective but they are not at scale.
• Indigenous and lay-people approaches are emerging that support healing and mental well-being.
• Resilience is a critical protective factor for mental well-being.
• The need to focus specifically on men and boys’ mental health is emerging.
• Population-level prevention strategies are not well developed despite the analysis that underlying community-level conditions are a part of the problem.
The Movember Foundation
The Movember Foundation’s vision is to have an everlasting impact on the face of men’s health. They do this by getting men to grow moustaches during Movember (the month formerly known as November) to spark conversation and raise funds for prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health. Together with the Movember community they have raised over $550 million, and have funded over 800 world-class programs in 21 countries. They’re committed to changing the face of men’s health and won’t stop growing as long as serious men’s health issues remain. Movember is fully accredited by the Better Business Bureau, and for the past two years, has been named a Top 100 best NGO by The Global Journal. For more information please visit Movember.com. Movember is a registered 501(c)(3) charity.
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