The Donegal Intercultural Platform has launched a number of videos promoting men’s mental health.
The initiative, supported by the HSE’s Connecting for Life Donegal, wants to reach men from any and all different cultural backgrounds.
With last week being Men’s Health Week, and this week being Refugee Week, the videos promote positive mental health messages in four different languages – English, Arabic, French and Ukrainian.
According to the HSE, the videos were developed as a way to reach men from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, including men in the refugee and asylum communities. The short videos offer supportive messages in the men’s own languages.
The short videos were funded by Connecting for Life Donegal and produced through a community work engagement project with a group of men from different backgrounds who came together to share their experiences as refugees and people seeking international protection. Through the process the men agreed the key messages that might help other men seek help and reach out to friends, family, services and the community.
The videos are designed to be shared on media apps like Whatsapp and Telegram, where men and other family members can share messages of support and hope with others they want to assist.
This event was also an opportunity to highlight once again the work between the Donegal Youth Service (DYS) and Connecting for Life Donegal (CfL). This initiative began in 2023 and has facilitated the writing and production of mental health themed songs by young men for young people in the county which will also be show cased at the event.
Paul Kernan, Manager of the Donegal Intercultural Platform said “We are very aware that men are at heightened risk of self-harm and suicide and that language can be a barrier to seeking support. With this project we believe we have produced a tool to help raise men’s awareness of services and to promote the fact that men are not alone and that people are there to help.”
Ciara Wray HSE Resource officer for Suicide Prevention said “The need to continually encourage men to reach out and ask for support is a key part of our partnership working under Connecting for Life Donegal. We are all vulnerable to difficulties with our mental health depending on the level of life stress we are experiencing. 1 in 3 of us have a mental health difficulty at some point in our lives. And yet we know from research that 1 in 4 people of us would delay seeking treatment for a mental health difficulty if we felt others would find out. The messages and songs aim to break down stigma and shame about mental health. Asking for help is a sign of strength and courage.”
The launch of the positive mental health messages for men took place in the Century Cinema, Letterkenny on Thursday June 20th 2024.
For more information on free training on suicide prevention and registration for scheduled workshops see:
www.bookwhen.com/suicidepreventiontrainingcho1 or email cdlmstraining@pieta.ie
For more information on Connecting for Life Donegal contact ciara.wray@hse.ie or telephone 086 8379909.
