Movember is proud to announce $12 Million in funding for men’s mental health initiatives across the country. As a result of the hard work of Mo Bros and Mo Sistas we’re able to support 7 outstanding projects to help men live with and beyond mental illness. This investment is one of the largest non-governmental investments in men’s mental health to date.
In the spring of 2013 Movember called for collaborative, inter-organizational, pan-Canadian applications to address key mental health issues for men. Proposals were reviewed, rated and ranked by a third party panel of experts, which included representation from across Canada and around the world. On the recommendation of these experts and the CMHN, Movember will be funding programs run by Queens University, McGill University, University of British Columbia, Ryerson University, University of Western Ontario, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and Kids Help Phone.
Queens University - The Caring Campus: An Intervention Project
The project will help male students self-manage the risk associated with substance misuse, reduce stigma attached to substance misuse and to mental health problems, and create a more supportive and “caring” campus environment. The changing strategies include the use of social norms feedback, contact-based education, and a summit “student driven” approach to engage male students. An app will be developed as a self-monitoring tool to provide information on resources and changes in substance use patterns.
McGill University: HealthyDads.ca: Development and Pilot Evaluation of a Multimodal E-Health Intervention to Promote the Mental Health of Men at Risk for Depression
The objective of this proposal is to develop and pilot test HealthyDads.ca as an e-mental health intervention for expectant first time fathers who are at risk for mental health problems. There are three phases to the study. Phase one involves literature review and on-line needs assessment and qualitative interviewing in Quebec, Ontario and Alberta, to identify needs, barriers and acceptable strategies to promote men’s mental health. This data will be used to devise an online intervention for fathers at risk of mental health problems which involves a choice of exercise activities of varying degrees of intensity as well as knowledge, tools and strategies to promote mental health and coping with parenting demands. Phase Two involves a pilot randomized controlled trial at three sites to measure the impact of the intervention on improving mood, anxiety, stress , parenting adjustment, satisfaction in the couple relationship, , physical activity, sleep and mental health seeking among other measures to provide an initial evaluation of the efficacy of the e-health intervention. Phase Three will be a full-scale Randomized Control Trial which is beyond the scope of the current proposal.
University of British Columbia: Masculinities and men's depression and suicide Network (MD&S NET)
This 15 member network team is focussed on men’s depression and suicide in 5 distinct projects: Project 1 will develop the help component for the Men’s Depression-HelpYourself website (www.mensdepressionhelpyourself.ubc.ca ) featuring on-line tools for depression management. Project 2 will extend an existing program known as the men’s DUDES club (in Vancouver only presently) for First Nations men who are high risk for depression and/or suicide. Project 3 is aimed at older men, a vulnerable sub-group who experience depression and have high rates of suicide. This project will evaluate and extend on an existing program called Men’s Sheds which provides a masculine environment (woodworking, repairs etc) for men who are socially isolated and/or experiencing illness challenges. A men’s sheds tool-kit will be developed and made available to enable Men’s Sheds to develop across Canada. Project 4 will adapt an existing Veteran’s Transition Program for men experiencing prostate cancer. Project 5 is called Man-up Against Suicide, whereby men who have experienced suicidal thoughts and men and women who have lost a male peer, friend or family member to suicide will provide and narrate photographs depicting those events. Photographs and captions will be exhibited across Canada and made available on-line as a means to de-stigmatizing men’s mental illness and raising awareness about men’s suicide.
Ryerson University: Reducing stigma of mental illness among boys and men in Asian communities in Canada: An innovative intervention study
The purpose of this project is to reduce stigma of mental illness among boys and men in Asian communities in Canada. This will be accomplished by engaging: (1) East, South East, and South Asian boys and men living with or affected by mental illness; and (2) community leaders from faith-based, media, arts and advocacy sectors, in two interventions to build mental health support capacities within their communities. Researchers from different disciplines and regions of Canada along with a large number of supporting organizations including academic institutions, mental health agencies, and community-based agencies that provide culturally and linguistically inclusive social care, will come together to work on the project. The two anti-stigma interventions to be applied are: Acceptance Commitment Training (ACT) to reduce internalized and enacted stigma; and Contact-based Empowerment Education (CEE) to support knowledge and skills building. The project will evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions, when used independently and combined. The interventions will be implemented in Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto, and will engage a total of 2,160 boys and men across three age groups (17-24, 25-54, 55 and up) with the goal of enabling them to become Mental Health Ambassadors who will take on leadership roles in further building capacity of anti-stigma efforts in their own cultural communities.
Lawson Health Research Institute and Western University: Enhancing Psychological Resiliency in Older Men Facing Retirement: Testing a Meaning-Centered Group Intervention
This project proposes to implement, evaluate, and disseminate Meaning-Centered Men's Groups for Older Men Facing Retirement to enhance mental health and well-being and to reduce risk for the onset of depression and for suicide thoughts and behaviour in soon-to-be or newly-retired men. The proposed research responds to a critical need to translate research findings on healthy aging into innovative interventions for potentially vulnerable groups. This project has a significant role to play in enhancing psychological resiliency and reducing risk for key mental health concerns among men in their 60s and older, and is timely given that the baby boomer generation is aging and retiring. Findings will have relevance for program and policy development regarding outreach interventions for community-residing older adults across Canada, and may have commercial applications in terms of enhancing health and well-being among older workers and forming the basis of interventions to enhance employee post-retirement health and well-being.
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health: Acting locally to have a national impact: A participatory action approach to addressing First Nation boys’ and men’s mental health
The purpose of the project is to establish a comprehensive, well-integrated and culturally-appropriate program of mental health services, which respects and prioritizes the experiences of First Nations boys and men. The project involves First Nations men working with health researchers, clinicians and advocates to explore how prevention, early intervention, community support and treatment services can best address the needs of First Nations boys and men. The project uses participatory action research, an approach that incorporates in meaningful ways the perspectives and lived experiences of participants and is congruent with First Nations self-government. From this work, resources and programs will be developed to address First Nations boys’ and men’s mental health, including innovative strategies for sharing and adapting tools and programs.
Kids Help Phone: mTalk: a Male Mental Health Counselling and Information Program for Teens
This innovative project made up of three distinct components consisting of research, outreach and service over three years will allow Kids Help Phone / Jeunesse, J'écoute to provide social and emotional supports to adolescent boys ages 14 - 18 (grades 9 through 12) in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec and Alberta. Informed directly by this demographic, new knowledge will be mobilized through technologies and across our three, proven-effective professional counselling platforms: phone, web-post, and the emerging live chat service – all contributing to improving the mental health and well-being of young males throughout Canada.
It’s investments like this that are going to have an everlasting impact on the face of men’s health. So what are you waiting for? Register today and enlist for Generation Moustache and make change.
.com_Carousel.jpg)
