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Calling all young men and non-binary folks (and people who know them) 📢
JustV
Community Manager Posts: 5,579 Part of The Furniture
Happy Friday! 
We're looking for young men and non-binary folks to get involved in a co-design we're running next week.
Here at The Mix, we talk about any and every issue, impacting all young people. But we often don't hear from enough young men, and we want to change this. We know some issues disproportionately impact young men (e.g. suicide rates, depression, porn addiction) and we want to make sure we're able to reach them with support for those issues.
What would your role be?
In the session, we'll be discussing how we can better reach and support young men. Your ideas will shape our next campaign which will focus on suicide prevention. We know this is an important topic for all young people and impacts young men at higher rates, and your involvement would make a huge difference.
A heads up, it's best to come prepared to talk about some heavy topics. Suicide and depression more generally are likely to come up as some of the key issues affecting young men. There will be time in the co-design to go over this a bit more and talk about how we'll look after ourselves.
When would you need to be available?
The session will take place next Thursday 5th August (6pm - 8pm) on Zoom.
As it's on Zoom, we really encourage having cameras on for the session. This isn't compulsory but will help everyone get stuck in, and it's useful for everyone if we can see who we're talking to!
We know anonymity is important to you guys too though, so you're also welcome to keep your camera and mic off and get involved in the discussion just using text. Whatever makes you most comfortable.
Interested? Sign up here
If you have any friends who might be interested in coming along, feel free to let them know about this too. We're looking to really spread the word on this one - the more the merrier!
Feel free to ask any questions or share any thoughts below.
We're looking for young men and non-binary folks to get involved in a co-design we're running next week.
Here at The Mix, we talk about any and every issue, impacting all young people. But we often don't hear from enough young men, and we want to change this. We know some issues disproportionately impact young men (e.g. suicide rates, depression, porn addiction) and we want to make sure we're able to reach them with support for those issues.
What would your role be?
In the session, we'll be discussing how we can better reach and support young men. Your ideas will shape our next campaign which will focus on suicide prevention. We know this is an important topic for all young people and impacts young men at higher rates, and your involvement would make a huge difference.
A heads up, it's best to come prepared to talk about some heavy topics. Suicide and depression more generally are likely to come up as some of the key issues affecting young men. There will be time in the co-design to go over this a bit more and talk about how we'll look after ourselves.
When would you need to be available?
The session will take place next Thursday 5th August (6pm - 8pm) on Zoom.
As it's on Zoom, we really encourage having cameras on for the session. This isn't compulsory but will help everyone get stuck in, and it's useful for everyone if we can see who we're talking to!
We know anonymity is important to you guys too though, so you're also welcome to keep your camera and mic off and get involved in the discussion just using text. Whatever makes you most comfortable.
Interested? Sign up here
If you have any friends who might be interested in coming along, feel free to let them know about this too. We're looking to really spread the word on this one - the more the merrier!
Feel free to ask any questions or share any thoughts below.
All behaviour is a need trying to be met.
The truth resists simplicity.
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Comments
There's a culture in general around being a man about things and not letting your thoughts and feelings affect your day to day life. It's behaviourally hardwired in for most, so tackling the problem for young adults is not an easy task. The thought of being seen as less of a man is a constant worry, at least for me, and it serves to feed into the negative cycle. I.e. I shouldn't talk about this, I shouldn't feel so terrible, I'm not a normal man, I am worthless, I shouldn't talk about this... The whole loop feels somewhat inescapable and I'm not certain how to tackle it, other than changing the way boys are raised and hoping the problems lessen with future generations. Any suggestions regarding this would be great.
A suggestion I would have is figuring out how to get men to be more open with other men. Despite having learned to be more open, I still aren't able to properly communicate with my male friends about things, and if I ever try I'm very reductive with regards to the extent of things. The whole experience just feels wrong and I tend to feel harshly judged even if I'm not. Having more key figures share their experiences and working towards making it more accepted amongst men to talk about those sorts of things could go a long way. If we see other guys talking openly perhaps it wouldn't seem so wrong to do so ourselves.
The final thought I have is that the taboo of talking about mental health can be layered. The general concept of discussing emotions is taboo for us, but sub-topics within that space also feel really shameful. Loneliness and body image to name a few. There are certain things which I feel like I'll never fully come to terms with and that general concept only serves to keep us isolated with our thoughts and compound everything further. Suffering in silence is an apt phrase I would use to describe the way most men wind up.
Hey that's a brilliant point for discussion. Finding out the types of issues that affect different groups would help improve understanding and our ability to help those suffering from things we aren't necessarily used to seeing ourselves. I for instance can imagine that issues like faith, sexuality, identity, loneliness, etc feature more and more frequently depending on the group of men you ask. And I also imagine there would be a lot of nuance to explore with these issues and how their effects differ when experienced by different marginalised groups. It would be nice to learn more about what seems to affect particular groups more frequently, and how best to support them with these problems.
With regards to working class men, I've been rather fortunate myself, but I've witnessed close friends and family struggle to cope with the day to day stresses and expectations. They often end up turning to drugs, alcohol and other addictive behaviour as a way to cope, which only further compounds their problems. The addiction elements of this issue are problems all of their own. But if we could find ways to show these men that there is help available and convince them that it's okay to accept that help before issues like addiction take root in their lives, it could go a long way towards helping them live happier lives.