This Mo Sister wants to show men she’s in their corner

When it comes to men’s health, Rebecca Hohm wants to take on the cowboy mentality that runs through her industry. She stands for more approachable and accessible avenues to workplace mental health support; a stance that continues at home with the most important men in her life.

Let’s talk ‘cowboy mentality’ – and how it affects men’s health.

Many oil, gas and energy companies employ a large portion of men. Some live in rural areas, smaller towns, including our Calgary office, where men might not have great access to healthcare. On top of that, you have the cowboy mentality that’s common throughout the industry. That is, white knuckling through things and not necessarily being vulnerable and asking for help.

A lot of men know they need help; this is what stops them.

I commonly see men who know they need help but the scariest thing is just asking for it. Taking the first step is usually the hardest part, like making the decision to take time off to access the various mental health resources Inter Pipeline offers. After this, everything is so much easier. A big part of my role is supporting the men and women in the organization tackle that cowboy mentality and feel psychologically safe at work.

Inter Pipeline has men’s health champions. What do they do?

We have people who are super passionate and comfortable talking about and acknowledging that more needs to be done to make men feel supported in the mental health space. They started an employee resource group call Next Gen Men. It’s a group for men to talk about men’s mental and physical health as well as work culture and how men treat each other at work. Next Gen Men is something that came from the grassroots - not from top-down. But senior leaders and everyone is ecstatic about it.

I’m a Mo Sister who wants to show men I’m in their corner

My father’s getting older, so is my partner; you never know what’s going to come up. With the men in my life, they don’t do the same things that women do to be proactive about their health, they need additional support. They need a bit more of a push - and I’m happy to do that. But men don’t feel supported and empowered to be proactive about their health, and I think that’s why Movember is so important.