Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month 2022

“I had a really great conversation with one prisoner regarding the expectation of men to always be okay and to ‘man up’. I felt as if the conversation had a really positive impact on that person and helped to change their mindset around mental health.”

Movember takes place during men’s mental health awareness month. The initiative looks at the subject of men’s mental health, focusing on prevention, early intervention, and health promotion. We recently spoke to Dan from the 2021 Unlocked Graduates cohort about his approach to Movember, and the impact he has been able to have in his prison by participating in the project this year:

“My motivation for taking part in Movember began back in 2019. After I first saw it advertised, I went on to read more about men’s mental health and discovered some particularly scary figures: such as that across the world, one man dies by suicide every minute of every day, with men accounting for 69% of all suicides. So I rose to the easy challenge of growing out my facial hair. I wanted to do my part, and since then, every year I take part and donate to the cause.

Movember is a major part of men’s mental health month, where for the whole of November, men will grow out their facial hair and refrain from shaving. This normally causes people to comment and say, “Forget to shave?” This is where the conversation about men’s mental health can start. This year, I’ve decided to grow out all my facial hair and try to talk more about mental health while at work in the prison.

The main reaction from friends is always a big shock! I’m normally baby-faced, so when I came back this year after a week of annual leave with facial hair, everyone asked about it and made some light-hearted jokes. I was able to link it all back to the main issue of mental health, which was rewarding but also a weird feeling, considering the normal atmosphere of a prison where this is less openly spoken about.

Prisoners would come up to me and comment on my facial hair. I was glad to see how open they were to a conversation around mental health, which felt particularly significant as it required them to open up and be vulnerable in quite a hyper-masculine environment. One prisoner I talked to about mental health initially stated that I needed to “Man up and get a grip.” I was proud to be able to challenge this, and we ended up having a really great conversation regarding the expectation of men to always be okay. I felt as if the conversation had a really great impact on that person and helped to change their mindset around mental health.

I would like for this initiative to be done on a much broader scale, and to see individuals such as prison Governors, MPs and celebrities taking part in and openly discussing stigmas surrounding men’s mental health. From conversations that I’ve had with staff, friends and prisoners, I’m hopeful that they will join in and take part in Movember in coming years.

I hope that we can continue the conversation further and further, so that one day, all men feel able to openly talk about their own mental health without fear of ridicule or judgement.”