Men's Health Forum in Ireland: News

The Men's Health Forum in Ireland now has a new website. To see it, click here ...

This page acts as a Bulletin Board for announcing up-and-coming events or requesting help or publicising a new initiative ... It is open to anyone working in this field. Please contact us to have the details of your event/request posted.

Men and Boys Run for Health
As a follow-on to International Men’s Health Week this year (which focused upon men and physical activity), the Men's Health Forum in Ireland (MHFI) is inviting males - and females who are prepared to dress as males - to participate in a series of runs which will be held in the spectacular grounds of Ardgillan Castle, near Skerries in Co. Dublin, on Saturday 4th September 2010. This day will involve competitive 10km and 5km runs, and a 3km fun run / walk. If you are looking for a personal challenge or a focus for your men’s group, this could be it! Why don’t you think about participating? Bring the rest of your family, walk around the gardens, have a picnic in the park, get a free health check, take the kids to the playground, join in the other activities on offer... there may even be a few famous faces there as well - you never know!

Online Fitness Programme for Men
The Men's Health Forum in Ireland (MHFI) is offering a free online 12 week fitness training programme for males (and females). Each week, the programme will slowly, easily, and realistically build-up the trainee's capabilities and, ultimately, help them to get fit enough to take part in either a 10km, 5km or 3km run / walk - if they so wish.

E-Male Matters Newsletter
The August edition of the Men's Health Forum in Ireland's monthly electronic newsletter ("E-Male Matters") is now available online. Click here to view both this and past editions.

New MHFI Website on the Way
During Men’s Health Week 2010 the Men’s Health Forum in Ireland gave the world a sneak preview of its new website - which will soon go fully ‘live’. The address will, of course, remain the same (www.mhfi.org), but the content and navigation will be a lot different. A big “thank you” is due to Peter Robinson from NooStyle Website Design for his top class advice, commonsense guidance, and creativity.

“Men and Physical Activity” Factsheet
To inform the focus of Men’s Health Week 2010, ARK launched a factsheet on “Men and Physical Activity”. This document looks at males and physical activity in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and is available for free downloading as a PDF file on the ARK website at: www.ark.ac.uk/services/MINI6.pdf

Working with Fathers Presentation Morning
Is your organisation interested in developing work with fathers? If so, then Parents Advice Centre would like to invite you to a Presentation Morning which will showcase some of the learning arising from the "Kick Start 2010" project - a seven month package of training, support, networking, reflection and practical action for groups that are trying to, or wishing to, engage with fathers. The Kick Start 2010 trainees are now coming to the end of their time on the programme, and have organised an event to help others to: understand why we need increased engagement with fathers; get a sense of what Kick Start offers; meet Kick Start participants; find out about the hands-on things involved in running an activity for fathers. This free event will take place on Wednesday 22nd September 2010 in NICVA, 61 Duncairn Gardens, Belfast BT15 2GB. For more information and to download a booking form, click here or contact Pauline on Tel: 02890 310891.

Cross Border Men’s Groups Collaboration - Planning for the Future
A one day workshop will be held in Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim, in August (date to be confirmed) looking at the issue of men and social exclusion in the Border Counties and Northern Ireland. Previous reports (e.g. Men on the Border, North Leitrim Men’s Group 2006) highlighted the marginalised character of socially excluded men. The aim is to: update and expand the relevance of this work to the Border Counties and Northern Ireland; develop strategies to address these challenges; develop a policy environment which addresses the needs of isolated, socially excluded men. This project is funded by the PEACE III Programme through the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund, managed for the Special EU Programmes Body by Leitrim County Council on behalf of County Leitrim Peace III Partnership. Please contact Aideen McGloin (Tel: 071 9650690 or Email: amcgloin@leitrimcoco.ie) by Friday 6th August if you are interested in attending.

“Health Facts for Men” Leaflet
At the start of the Summer, the Meath Primary Health Care Project for Travellers launched a new leaflet on “Health Facts for Men”. Although this leaflet was designed to meet the needs of Traveller men, it contains a lot of useful information for all males. It is now available for downloading from the Men’s Health Forum in Ireland website as a Publisher 2007 file at: www.mhfi.org/facts.pub and in Word format at: www.mhfi.org/facts.doc (please note that these files are very large). For further information, contact the Meath Primary Health Care Project for Travellers at Tel 046 9071679 or Finian Murray (Men’s Health Development Officer) at Tel: 046 9280644.

Northern Area Support Project for Young Men aged 16-25 Years
The “Protect Life - A Shared Vision: Northern Ireland Suicide Prevention Strategy and Action Plan 2006-2011” (PDF file) includes a priority target to: enhance the coping skills of young males; encourage them to seek help as an alternative to taking their own lives; develop and implement appropriate personal development programmes for young males. During 2009, the Northern Area Promoting Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Partnership (Public Health Agency) commissioned a scoping study into emotional health and well being work with young men throughout the Northern Area. This study indentified a need to increase the resilience of vulnerable young men, and recommended engaging dedicated workers to deliver this work. Two new Young Men’s Workers have now taken up post in the Northern Trust area, and will engage with males aged 16-25 years of age. This project is funded by the Public Health Agency in the Northern Area, and managed by the NEELB Youth Service. Group work programmes (focusing on the health and emotional needs of young men) lasting 6-8 weeks will be delivered and, over the next few weeks, the workers will consult with various agencies, groups and communities to ensure the most effective methods for engagement with local young men. For more information, contact Terry Hamill (Antrim Youth Projects Office) at Tel: 02894 428003, or Paula Healy (Sunlea Youth Projects Office, Coleraine) at Tel: 02870 351599.

Hanna’s House Summer School - Workshop with Men
At the end of August 2010, Hanna’s House is running a Summer School on “A Feminist Peace: how do we get there?” in the Art College, University of Ulster, Belfast. As part of this event, there will be a workshop (Saturday 28th August from 11.00am -1.00pm) led by Rob Fairmichael, on men, masculinities and violence. This will involve men who are engaged in non-violent peace programmes. Hanna’s House welcomes the participation of men in this session and in the rest of the Summer School. For further details, contact Shirley Graham at Email: hannashouse@nwci.ie

Discipline and Boys who are Under Five
“Discipline and Boys who are Under Five” is a brief guide for parents which has been published by the Boys’ Development Project based in London. This small booklet is available in Portable Document Format (PDF) from their website.

World Congress on Men’s Health
The 7th World Congress on Men’s Health (titled “How to Overcome the Challenges”) will move delegates’ attention from the problems to the solutions. It will take place from 28th - 30th October 2010 in Nice, France, and offers a one-stop shop for multidisciplinary scientific exchange and solutions in urology, cardiology, endocrinology, oncology, sexual medicine, mental health, primary care, public policy, education, ageing and more.

Men's Health Forum Annual Report
The Men's Health Forum in Ireland invites you to view its Annual Report on work undertaken during 2009. A Portable Document Format (PDF) version of this file can be accessed by clicking here. The size of this file is 87KB.