Mo Bro Marcus Head first got involved with Movember over a decade ago. Back then, it was all about the moustache. But several career moves and three children later, and Marcus is seeing Movember’s impact goes well beyond good vibes at work – not to say that’s not still a huge plus.
How did you first get involved with Movember?
When I first started fundraising for Movember, I was a recent graduate from the University of Calgary working at Golf Town, and I thought it would be hilarious if everyone there had moustaches for a month. It was a great team building opportunity, and working in a retail environment, we were able to engage with customers every day and talk about what we were doing.
Fast forward a few years later, I started working for Pembina and ended up becoming a Movember team captain there. While fun team building is still one of the primary reasons for supporting Movember, I came to realize that there’s much more to Movember than just the Moustache, and I started focusing on the actual causes that Movember supports, particularly men’s mental health. After my grandpa committed suicide and other people close to me struggled with their mental health, I gained a more personal connection to the Movember causes.
And how did that change how you experienced Movember?
Since I graduated University, I’ve held a few different jobs, but one of the constants in those jobs is a lot of networking and face to face interactions with customers & suppliers. During Movember, when I meet customers and suppliers, the first thing they’ll often ask is, “What’s that thing on your lip?” Right away, the moustache breaks the ice and starts important conversations.
Sometimes it leads to a 1-2 minute chat or a 10-15 minute conversations. But if you can have a conversation that gets someone to seek help for their mental health or get their prostate checked, that’s powerful; that’s why we do this. It’s not just the money we raise that is important, it’s the awareness too.
You started doing Movember at work. But has it influenced your life outside the nine-to-five?
Once I got deeper into understanding what Movember was about, a good friend reached out about his mental health struggles. It was shocking when he first reached out. We had been best friends since Junior High and I had no idea that he was struggling. We’ve since had some good open chats and with him opening up to share his struggles, it made me more comfortable about opening up as well.
And now that I’m a dad, I want to raise my kids to feel good about sharing their feelings, understand why they feel the way they do, and be comfortable to talk to me at any time. I want my kids to grow up in an atmosphere where they aren’t told to “Man Up” and tough it out all the time. I certainly want them to be resilient and strong in the face of adversity, but part of that is knowing that reaching out to talk or ask for help is a sign of strength, not weakness.
I’m not perfect in this by any means, and I make mistakes in how I talk to my kids more than I’d like. But even in these moments, I hope to instil in them that people make mistakes and owning up for it is the right thing to do. Even when I say things to them I shouldn’t have, I’ll sit down and explain how I was feeling, why I said what I said, what I should have done better, and offer an apology, and hopefully turn the situation into a teachable moment.
What's your hope for the future of men's health?
I hope my kids can grow up feeling safe to express their feelings, ask for help, open up when they need to. Movember supported mental health workshops for high school kids, like Man Cave and SpeakEasy, will help. I never had anything like that when I was younger. These programs will help more men feel comfortable to share what they’re going through and what they’re struggling with. It only takes one person to share and be vulnerable to make it easier for others to see they’re not alone in whatever their struggle is. I’ll end off with one of my favourite quotes, this one by Brene Brown: “The difficult thing is that vulnerability is the first thing I look for in you and the last thing I’m willing to show you. In you, it’s courage and daring. In me, it’s weakness.”