Movember: Men, Moustaches and Mental Health

Movember is an annual event that takes place throughout November that involves the growing of moustaches in order to raise awareness for men’s mental health, suicide prevention, prostate cancer and testicular cancer.

Why is Movember so important?

Movember aims to reduce the number of preventable deaths by promoting early cancer detection, diagnosis and effective treatments and encouraging men to speak up about their mental health. The Movember Foundation ultimately aims to reduce the number of premature male deaths by 25% by 2030.

In the UK, men are three times more likely than women to die by suicide, and suicide continues to be the biggest killer of men under the age of 45.

Suicide is a complex issue with a multitude of causes and it is therefore not possible to give a simple explanation as to why more men die by suicide despite more women being diagnosed with depression.

However, communication has been recognised as a significant factor. Throughout history men have been encouraged to ‘man up’, be strong and told that expressing emotion is a sign of weakness. As a result of this, men are less likely to ask their friends, family or GP for help and instead often choose to remain ‘strong and silent.’

The Movember Foundation aims to reduce the stigma around men’s mental health. They encourage everyone to ask men how they’re doing, listen to what they have to say, encourage action and regularly check back in with them. In doing this they hope to make it easier for men to open up about how they feel and get the help they may need.

Suicide Prevention Helplines:

Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) – for men

Tel:  0800 58 58 58 – 5pm to midnight everyday

Web: thecalmzone.net

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Samaritans – for everyone

Tel: 116 123

Web: samaritans.org