International Men’s Day

Did you know that today is International Men’s Day? This year, the theme is ‘Positive Role Models’ and they are aiming to highlight the importance of boys and men feeling able to have open conversations about their mental health. According to charity Papyrus (prevention of young suicide), sadly suicide is the main cause of death in young people under the age of 35 in the UK and of those, three quarters of them are boys or young men.

Whilst we’ve made great strides over the last few decades when it comes to talking about our mental health, clearly, we’ve still got a way to go. Stigma still exists for a lot of men when it comes to this topic, both in terms of them feeling able to be honest about how they’re feeling and being able to reach out for support when they need it.

Here at The Outdoors Group and The Outdoors School, we are passionate about role modelling openness and vulnerability with the boys and young men we work with. We realise what an important job we have in ensuring that these learners recognise that it’s OK to talk about their mental health, that it’s OK to ask for support from those around them, that it’s OK to not be OK. It’s a big responsibility and one that we take really seriously.

This means we talk openly about mental health with the young people we work with. We encourage them to think about ways that they can support their own mental health, whether that’s through things like journalling, exercise or talking to those around them and we are honest with them when they ask us questions. We foster a culture of kindness and non-judgement throughout our provision and encourage them to do the same. When we are faced with challenging behaviour, we don’t take a punitive approach, rather looking at the root causes for behaviour and investigating what unmet needs we can support our young people with to help them feel able to find different ways to express their frustrations or big emotions.

We continue to try and make sure that the culture that we are fostering for our colleagues in terms of supporting them with their mental health and wellbeing, also applies to the young people we work with. We work hard to provide them with the support they may need, to equip them with the skills and language they require to talk about their own mental health, and to empower them to take ownership of this crucial part of their personal wellbeing.

If you do know of a young person struggling with their mental health, there are services they (or you) can reach out to such as Hopeline247 which you can call on 0800 068 41 41 or text on 88247.

Author: Hannah Durdin, Content Officer & Forest School Leader

Date: Tuesday 19th November 2024