Self Care Week 2014

21/10/14 . Partners

The Men's Health Forum is backing Self Care Week 2014. Winter health is the focus for Self Care Week which runs from 17 - 23 November. How can you get involved?

Self Care Week 2014 info banner

Winter is generally a time when demand on health services increases due to the prevalence of weather related illnesses. It is also a time when often people need a little more support in order to understand how to look after their own health, and their family’s health safely and responsibly. More can also be done with NHS signposting, since some people are genuinely confused about where to go for their particular health needs.

This is why this year’s national awareness campaign Self Care Week is focusing on “Self Care for Life – be healthy this winter” as its theme.

Self Care Week is particularly keen to work with CCGs. Why not get involved in the campaign and increase the health literacy in your area by supporting people to self care for life.

The Self Care Week website includes a communications pack with information and ideas on what CCGs can do to help support the week. Email Self Care Week to sign-up for updates.

The Men’s Health Forum need your support

It’s tough for men to ask for help but if you don’t ask when you need it, things generally only get worse. So we’re asking.

In the UK, one man in five dies before the age of 65. If we had health policies and services that better reflected the needs of the whole population, it might not be like that. But it is. Policies and services and indeed men have been like this for a long time and they don’t change overnight just because we want them to.

It’s true that the UK’s men don’t have it bad compared to some other groups. We’re not asking you to ‘feel sorry’ for men or put them first. We’re talking here about something more complicated, something that falls outside the traditional charity fund-raising model of ‘doing something for those less fortunate than ourselves’. That model raises money but it seldom changes much. We’re talking about changing the way we look at the world. There is nothing inevitable about premature male death. Services accessible to all, a population better informed. These would benefit everyone - rich and poor, young and old, male and female - and that’s what we’re campaigning for.

We’re not asking you to look at images of pity, we’re just asking you to look around at the society you live in, at the men you know and at the families with sons, fathers and grandads missing.

Here’s our fund-raising page - please chip in if you can.

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