Men’s Health Week (MHW) was celebrated across the country last week through an information campaign targeting men delivered by the HSE and a wide range of voluntary and community partners. Men were encouraged to take ‘One Step at a Time’ to improve their health. This year’s campaign encouraged men to focus on small, practical actions that can have a lasting positive impact. Led by the Men’s Health Forum in Ireland (MHFI) and developed in partnership with an all-island planning group and HSE Health and Wellbeing, there was a different focus each day of the week running up to Father’s Day on the 21st June.
Colleagues and stakeholders around the country, in local authorities and in the HSE, were involved in leading and supporting a wide range of activities for the week, with the likes of Family Resources Centre, marts, and a wide variety of workplaces getting involved with a range of community events and local radio interviews.
Some examples of activities included Men’s health fairs and information evenings as well as activities such as walking football, swimming, walks and men’s health checks. The Irish Pharmacy Union actively promoted the Men’s Health Week campaign through their network of over 1900 pharmacies and two pharmacists took part in an episode of the HSE Talking Health and Wellbeing podcast to highlight how men can get support for their health through the pharmacy. Men’s Sheds across Ireland organised and got involved a range of walks as part of their promotion of the week. Movember launched a campaign focussed on ‘Extra Time with Dad’ highlighting the need for better supported paternity leave for new dads and they also launched a new video highlighting the success of men’s health in Ireland with a range of voices from established health and wellbeing programmes.
The Construction sector, which is a key male dominated industry were involved again this year and many facilitated the delivery of CAIRDE Mental Health Training by the Men’s Health Forum in Ireland, supported by the National Office for Suicide Prevention. Health Promotion and Improvement staff in the HSE took the opportunity in some areas to deliver their Engage Connecting with Men training to support other agencies to engage men more successfully whilst the Cancer Prevention Officers were also actively delivering sessions across the regions.
The Action Man Men’s Health Booklet, available through www.healthpromotion.ie, again was very popular this year with those working on Men’s Health Week and continues to work well as an engagement tool and health information resource for men.
At a national level HSE Health and Wellbeing worked with a range of ambassadors and partners to deliver a men’s health campaign on social media through press as well as delivering some key initiatives:
- National Men’s Health Week Webinar – Special guests, poet, author and mental health advocate, Daragh Fleming and entrepreneur Bobby Kerr, shared their views on men’s health issues. Other speakers included Blaithin Casey from HSE Health and Wellbeing who spoke about the Get Active Programme freely available on the HSE App and Dave Smith from the Be OKAY Garage how engagement with cars is improving mental health in the Be OKAY Garage. To view the full webinar go to: https://youtu.be/qewQzYHBjLY?si=gvuVUUMnUk9NfcDo
- Men’s Mental Health Podcast – Daragh Fleming also appeared on the HSE Talking Health and Wellbeing podcast and discussed men’s mental health as well as his own experience with depression and highlighted how beneficial counselling supports were to his and his recovery. He also outline how he works to protect his mental health on an ongoing basis.
For more:
Men’s Health in the Pharmacy Podcast
Movember’s Championing Men’s Health in Ireland Video