Men’s
Mental
Health
The entire purpose of the community, movement, and courses is to promote men’s mental health.
This cause is of primary importance to us and everything else we do revolves around this one goal.
We’ve seen how there are a number of factors in society right now that is damaging the mental health of men all over the world, and we want to help set it right.
On this page, we’ll discuss the current problems facing men and how we aim to improve the situation.
Expectation of
Stoicism
By this, I don’t mean the healthy stoicism of ancient philosophy - which we’ll talk about at length in the Personal Leadership course.
What I mean is the expectation that men not show emotion.
I mean the expectation that men bottle up how they’re feeling and always put on a stoic, held-together front.
I’m talking about the expectation that men never be “weak” or vulnerable.
These things require dishonesty.
It is not realistic to expect that men never have their moments of vulnerability.
It’s not realistic to expect that men never need help.
It’s not realistic to expect that men not have a wide range of emotions as they move about their lives.
Men are complex human beings.
They are social animals with all the emotionality and susceptibility to external pressures that come with it.
To pretend otherwise is to create a bad situation with negative repercussions for everybody involved.
Insufficient
Support
Whether it be a matter of professional resources or social expectations, men are lacking in the support they need for robust, enduring mental health.
Our society is not setup right now in a way that is healthy for men’s psychological well-being. I would argue that it never has been.
That said, some elements from the past did help. Things like third spaces - places where people could gather together that weren’t at their personal residence, or places they had to pay to be in.
Those places have evaporated over the decades and that’s been damaging to our ability to have regular, productive social interactions - something that is critical for mental health.
In addition, personal interactions tend to be less supportive of men, overall.
Men are expected to suck it up and take life’s blows without being able to address the impact on them openly and freely.
This hinders their ability to cope and heal.
Limited
Social
Interactions
The pandemic a couple years ago exacerbated a problem that had already been growing for some time - the digital world has us held in our own private, virtual corners, cut off from real, in-person interactions that are vital to everyone’s mental well-being.
Political extremism and polarity has also made this problem even worse than it was in recent years.
It’s hard to be around people that your own sense of morality is telling you are un-empathetic, callous, devious, over-wrought, or otherwise difficult.
While this space can’t help with our political differences, we are working hard to cultivate a sense of community and many avenues of social interaction.
During our External Leadership courses, we’ll also enhance all of our social skills to make in-person socializing easier for people who struggle with fitting in or feeling understood.
Dopamine Addiction
This is another thing we’ve all been affected by.
Fewer Options
It feels these days that more time is spent telling men what they can’t be or can’t do than what they can.
They can’t…
We will show you that
They can be emotionally aware and understanding
They can be relied on to do things other than physical tasks
*Some men are afraid to go to a playground with their nieces or nephews or even their own kids without the mom if the people there don’t know them cause they’re worried people will assume they’re some sort of predator
