Movember – Supporting Men’s Health – Movember takes place every year in the month of November. Its purpose it to raise awareness of men’s mental health and physical health and encourage conversations to reduce the stigma of men asking for help.
The three main areas that they want to raise awareness about are:
- Mental Health and Suicide Prevention
- Prostate Cancer
- Testicular Cancer
There are different ways that you can support Movember. The organization suggests the following:
Move for Mental Health – globally, 60 men an hour take their own lives. Move for mental health asks you to walk or run 60 km in Movember in remembrance of those men.
Host a Mo-Ment – Host an event that raises awareness and funds for men’s health. The more we talk about men’s mental health and physical health, the more we can destigmatise asking for help.
Mo your own way – If any of the ideas above aren’t for you perhaps there is something else that you can do throughout the month of November to raise awareness or that would just support your own health.
Ideas for how you can support your own health for Movember
- If there is anything about your health that is worrying you now is the time to book an appointment to speak to someone, whether that be your GP, dentist, optician or a therapist.
- Commit to doing things that improve your physical or mental health – consider exercising more, taking up a new sport or hobby, drinking more water, spend more time with friends, make plans for a holiday or day out. Start to do things or plan things that give you joy and make you feel better.
- Quit or reduce habits that impact your physical and mental health. Think about the things that you do that might be having a negative impact on you. Reduce your drinking, stop smoking, look at your diet, maybe cut out chocolate, sweets or caffeine, or reduce the amount of time you spend on social media.
- Make a point of talking to friends and family about mental health, how you feel and ask them how they feel. One of the biggest ways we can reduce the stigma for men about asking for help with their health is to start to normalize having open conversations.
If this feels overwhelming to you, perhaps just choose one or two things to work on or do. Making one small change can have a knock on effect to other areas in your life. For example, lets say you commit to drinking more water every day. Drinking enough water will mean that your brain functions better, you feel less tired and have more energy, this means that you might feel you can go for a short walk everyday. Walking every day helps you feel fitter and lose weight, you sleep better and give more attention to your diet. You see people on your daily walks and this makes you feel part of the community and less isolated. You feel more confident and you reach out more to friends, who you meet up with more and so it goes on. Taking a small step is better than not taking any step, so don’t underestimate the changes you make, no matter how small they are.
The blogs on this website offer ideas on how you can make changes in different areas of your life, please browse through for inspiration. Helpful Articles.
The Movember website also has a list of Resources and support that you might find useful. Movember – Need Support
If you feel that you would like to speak to someone about your mental health or anything else that is troubling you, you might find speaking to a therapist helpful. Paul offers Psychotherapy and counselling, EMDR and Clinical Supervision. If you are struggling with any issue and would like to make an appointment with Paul please call Paul on 07843 813 537 or fill in the form on the Contact Page, if he doesn’t answer he is probably in a session, please leave him a message and he will call you back as soon as he can. For more information about Paul please take a look at the About Paul Page, Frequently Asked Questions Page and The Counselling Services Page.
