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Welcome to the National Men's Health Week 2006 (NMHW2006) Resource Pack
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- About the Resource Pack
- "How to . . .†Guides
- Future Plans and Up-dates
- The NMHW2006 Conference - Mind Your Head: Improving the Mental Wellbeing of Men and Boys
- Evaluation
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)
You can find out more on all of the previous weeks by clicking on the link below and following the relevant options on the left hand menu:
Or there is a short history available by clicking on the link below:
National Men's Health Week 2006 will be the fifth such event in England and Wales. As in previous years, NMHW will take place between 12-18th June, which is the week that ends on Father's Day (which this year is on the 18th of June).
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. Mental health is a key area of government concern and activity, reflected in its prominence in the public health white paper, Choosing Health (2004). This document shows that one in six adults at any one time has a mental health problem (as many as nine million people may be affected) and up to one in four GP consultations concern mental health issues. 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 the most common cause of death in young men under 35. Overall, 75 per cent of suicides in the UK are by men
- 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 a negative event 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 Week will address all aspects of mental health — from suicide to clinical depression, through to stress and anxiety. Local organisations will be encouraged and enabled to run events on mental health issues and the Forum will produce a policy report highlighting the key issues at a national level. The Forum will also be looking to forge partnerships with major employers to run projects aimed at promoting mental wellbeing in the workplace.
About the Resource Pack
The current web-based format of the resource pack is yet another step in the development of the provision of resources by the Men's Health Forum. This builds on the previous years online version, in reducing costs even further therefore saving on limited resources. We hope that the resource pack will be easier to use and have more features than in previous years. We would welcome your thoughts and comments on the resource pack, please email these to: mhw@menshealthforum.org.uk
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 will also be developing a template to assist in the evaluation of your activities. These changes have been made in response to the comments made during the NMHW2004 and NMHW2005 evaluation processes.
We do not want to exclude anyone from receiving this information, because of the new format. Therefore, if you or a colleague would prefer a CD-ROM or certain sections sent to you in hard copy, please contact Matthew Maycock at mhw@menshealthforum.org.uk or 08701453815.
"How to . . .†Guides
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
Future Plans and Up-dates
Plans for NMHW will continue to develop right up until the date of the Week itself. In particular, at time of writing this Resource Pack, we have not yet finalise the plans for launches of NMHW, the policy formation process or the Haynes Brain Manual. We will ensure that you are kept up to date with developments by e-mail, when new areas are added to the resource pack. We will also post notices from time to time on the Men's Health Forum website at www.menshealthforum.org.uk
The Haynes Brain Manual
The groundbreaking Haynes Brain Manual, will form the centrepiece of NMHW. 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 more information on the Brain Manual, and how to order discounted copies please click on the link below:
The NMHW2006 Conference - Mind Your Head: Improving the Mental Wellbeing of Men and Boys
National Men's Health Week starts on 12 June this year. On Wednesday 14 June, the organisers, Men's Health Forum, are staging a ground-breaking conference: 'Mind Your Head: Improving the Mental Wellbeing of Men and Boys'. The conference is very timely, especially because of the new duty on public sector organisations to promote gender equality which becomes law in April 2007.
The conference will raise awareness of all the mental health issues that impact on men. It will look at these issues, however, from a positive standpoint, exploring how problems can be tackled through gender-sensitive practice in a wide range of settings and life stages. The aim is to ensure that each delegate goes away with at least one working model for their own practice, inspired by all they have seen and heard.
The Department of Health is sponsoring this conference, along with The Football Association, which has generously made the new Wembley Stadium available to Men's Health Forum for the day. (Alternative conference space has been booked in the event that the stadium is not completed in time.) NMHW is of increasing interest to health and social care workers, and around 500 are expected to attend this conference.
You can find out more about the conference programme, and register for a place, by clicking on the link below:
If You're in Scotland or Ireland
In accordance with the ethos of NMHW, the MHF is working closely with Men's Health Forum Scotland (MHFS) and Men's Health Forum Ireland, where activity will also focus on men and mental wellbeing. However, please note that the MHF is organising NMHW in England and Wales only. Events in Scotland are co-ordinated by Men's Health Forum Scotland, for more information please contact:
Sarah McMillan - Information Development Worker
Men's Health Forum Scotland
Unit 16
Wellpark Enterprise Centre
120 Sydney Street
Glasgow
G31 1JF
Tel: 0141 550 7515
Email: mark@mhfs.org.uk
Men's Health Forum Ireland
While events in Ireland, are being organised by Men's Health Forum Ireland. For more information on activity in both Northern and the Republic of Ireland during NMHW2006, please contact:
Alan George
Resolute Health
PO Box 71
Belfast
BT16 2WA
t: 02890 484404
m: 07763 119880
MHF Ireland are organising a conference during NMHW, please click on the link below for more information:
The Evaluation of NMHW
The internal evaluation of NMHW2006, has now been completed, and can be viewed by clicking on the link below:
A great deal of organisational learning has been done as a result of the 2006 evaluation process. Key areas of improvement that the evaluation process highlighted include; the remaining problems associated with the resourcing of NMHW (and the related problem of people's perception of the MHF in relation to resources) as well as problems associated with the lack of lead-in time during NMHW. A concerted effort has been made to alleviate these problems during NMHW2007.
We would welcome your thoughts on the organisation and content of NMHW2006, including this resource pack and other pieces of work relating to the week. You can feed your thoughts back to us very quickly and easily by clicking on the link below:
Contacting Us
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 our sister site:
Finally . . . .
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!
Matthew Maycock NMHW CoordinatorMen's Health Forum
The Men's Health Forum is a registered charity (no. 1087375) and a Company Limited by Guarantee (no. 4142349 — England. Its registered office is at Tavistock House, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9HR
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