The conversation around mental health has been growing increasingly over the last couple of years but even so, there’s one group of people among who the topic is still heavily stigmatised: men. CommuneEAST’s upcoming panel discussion on Wednesday 26th June aims to address this.
The problematic discourse around men and mental health reinforces the prejudice and stereotypes in place that drag the male self and ego into the ground - vulnerability and fragility framed as a defect and a weakness. Mental health is often accompanied with unfavourable language that fuels suppression, denial and destruction of yourself and those around you.
Although mental health is being addressed more and more by professionals and the media, many men are still reluctant to seek help and signs of distress are often left undiagnosed until it is too late. These approaches are found by many men to be inaccessible, forced and patronising. In the UK, only 15-19% of men would seek help from their GP for anxiety or depressive tendencies; and only 36% of referrals to IAPT (Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies) are men.
Birthed as a space for questioning, collaboration and exchange, CommuneEast is hosting its first Book Club, which will investigate, debate and converse together topics from collective interests to conversations incubated through the CommuneEAST ecosystem.
The first of these, taking place on 26th June at London’s The Curtain Hotel, will see four expert speakers pushing new thinking and leading a discussion around mental health amongst men. Leanne Elliott Young (Founder, CommuneEAST) will host the debate with HIM+HIS author Helene Selam Kleih, author and activist Wilson Oryema, and Rashid Nix from mental health charity MIND.
The windows at The Curtain Hotel will also become a street-level call to action, as HIM +HIS takeover the windows with a glittering green immersive celebration of the bold conversations that the book delivers.
Tickets are free and limited, so be quick and secure yours here.
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