{jcomments off}Mental Health Ireland would like to draw your attention to their new Training and Education Prospectus for 2012.  This publication is now available online at: http://issuu.com/mental_health_ireland/docs/mhi_training_prospectus_2012_booklet   The booklet outlines learning opportunities in areas such as managing stress, building resilience, caring for carers, mental health and young people/older people, coping with unemployment, understanding mood disorders, substance misuse ...  However, this year Mental Health Ireland is also facilitating a one day interactive workshop on Men’s Mental Health.  This will be held on Tuesday 4th September 2012, from 10.00am - 4.00pm, in The Clarion Hotel Dublin Liffey Valley, Dublin 22.  This event will explore: men’s mental health awareness; attitudes to mental health; the interaction between mental and physical health; setting a personal development programme; how men manage stress.  The cost is €25 per person / €10 for the unwaged.  For more information, Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Tel: 01 2841166.

{jcomments off}The Irish Men's Group (IMG) came about quite simply through men talking together in an open and honest way.  It sounds simple because it is just that - men opening up to each other in a safe environment with no judgment; helping each other through their own difficulties in their own lives.  It all began when Tom Kane and Andrew O’Loughlin (who had been friends for almost 20 years) decided to do a facilitation course.  Tom comes from a construction background and Andrew from a financial background.  During the course, real life situations that men and women found themselves in were discussed.  The groups were initially mixed and then, one day, they were divided into men and women only.  That’s when it all happened.  Out of nowhere, the men opened up to a level of personal detail that you could not find anywhere.  The setting was safe, the honesty was alarming, and the outcome was phenomenal.  Here was a group of men sharing for the first time in their lives how life really was for them: their problems, their fears and their world.  Tom and Andrew realised that men need a safe place to talk where they are not judged.  Very soon afterwards, in 2011, they set up IMG.  They ran a pilot group for a few months to see if what they had discovered really worked, and it did!  The group consisted of 10 men from all walks of life and professions.  Each week the men came together to talk, open up, share and get help from each other.  The focus was on various issues and problems that were getting them down and making them feel isolated and alone.  The result was powerful.  Interest is rapidly growing outside Dublin, and the goal is to open groups in all counties in Ireland - so that every man has access to IMG.  For more information, visit: www.irishmensgroup.ie or Tel: 01 687 7448 or 086 1928415.

{jcomments off}The Men's Health Forum in Ireland (MHFI) and Inspire Ireland have issued an Invitation to Tender document.  This seeks to engage a website designer / developer in the creation of an online 'Work Out' mental fitness programme aimed at young men.  This project will seek to replicate an online resource created by The Inspire Foundation Australia.  The content and operational aspects of this proposed website have already been determined, and the successful tendering body will be asked to deliver a finished product by late May 2012.  The closing date for submission of tender documents is Friday 30th March 2012.  Full details can be accessed at: www.mhfi.org/workouttender.pdf   

{jcomments off}The Marie Keating Foundation has launched their eighth annual ‘Get Men Talking’ campaign which will run throughout March 2012. The theme for this year is your health is your wealth, and aims to promote early detection as the first line of defence when it comes to some of the key male cancers - testicular, prostate and bowel cancer.  Throughout March, the Foundation will focus on the importance of being vigilant about men’s health issues, and reducing the risk of developing cancer through positive lifestyle choices.  Men are encouraged to visit an interactive website at www.getmentalking.ie  This has been developed to specifically focus upon men’s cancers, and to offer practical information and advice to males in Ireland.  Importantly, this site gives users the chance to 'Ask an Expert' about any concerns they may have - for free and in complete confidence.

{jcomments off}You are invited to apply for a free place at a conference on 'Ethnographic Approaches to Suicide in Ireland'.  This event is sponsored by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences and ESB Electric Aid Ireland.  It will be held on Friday 16th March 2012, from 1.00pm - 5.00pm, in Renehan Hall, South Campus, St Patrick’s College, National University of Ireland, Maynooth.  To register for a place, email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit http://anthropology.nuim.ie for more details.

{jcomments off}The Men's Sheds movement, founded in Australia, has helped to address a range of men's issues including health, isolation and lack of community involvement.  In recent years, there has been a swell of interest in this concept in Ireland but, so far, Northern Ireland has lagged behind a bit.  To remedy this situation, a seminar has been organised which will examine what a Men's Shed is, how they operate, what men get from this experience, and how this model can be adapted to suit the needs of local men. This seminar will take place on Tuesday 13th March 2012, from 11.00am - 2.00pm, in Cliftonville Community Centre, Belfast.  To book a place visit: www.wea-ni.com/seminar or phone Michael Glover at Tel: 02890 329718.  This event has been organised by a partnership of voluntary and community groups in Northern Ireland.

{jcomments off}During March 2012 you can try a range of free activities and events which will help you to be active, eat well and feel good.  The Public Health Agency, Southern Health and Social Care Trust, Armagh City and District Council, Banbridge District Council, Craigavon Borough Council, and Newry and Mourne District Council are joining forces to provide a healthy living initiative to give everyone the opportunity to ‘Give it a Go!’  Eating well and being active are two of the most important things we can do to keep well, feel great, and help prevent many of the health problems that are common in Northern Ireland today.  For a full list of what will be taking place, visit: www.giveitago.org.uk

{jcomments off}No, this is not an advertisement for some seedy website on ‘hot hunks’!  Instead, it is a genuine request for images of ordinary men to adorn the Home Page of the Men’s Health Forum in Ireland’s (MHFI) website.  To keep this website fresh, MHFI is giving it a facelift.  One of the things that we’d like to have on this site is digital photographs of real local men and boys.  All the stock images used on websites these days tend to focus upon the ‘perfect man’ rather than the actual man.  However, this is not a competition.  Nor is there a big prize to be won.  We would like you to consider emailing your image(s) of males to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will try to include as many of these images as possible on the MHFI website’s Home Page over the coming year.  Your reward will be to see yourself / someone you know featured on a website which has a huge amount of visitors each year!!!  If you would like to have your digital photograph considered for inclusion, it needs to be colour, a minimum of 400 x 300 pixels resolution, copyright free, to have the person in it ‘doing something’ (not rude), and you need to have the permission of the person in the photograph to use it on the website.