{jcomments off}East Belfast Survivors of Suicide Support Group is hosting their annual ‘Celebration of Life’ event to mark World Suicide Bereavement Awareness Day.  The event will take place at 3.00pm in McQuiston Memorial Presbyterian Church, Castlereagh Road, Belfast on Sunday 21st November 2010.  This uplifting day of reflection will be marked by song, poetry, soloists, music and readings.  There will also be refreshments provided by the church immediately after the service.  The group welcomes the support of the wider community, as well as families bereaved through suicide at this event - as suicide prevention and awareness is a shared community responsibility and is everyone's business.  For further information, please contact: Chris Deconink at East Belfast Community Development Agency on Tel: 02890 451512, Bobby Cosgrove on Tel: 0759 5745718 or Trisha McQueen on Tel: 0772 4029766

{jcomments off}The Men’s Advisory Project has launched a research report on male victims of domestic abuse in Northern Ireland. The report, titled “Towards Gender Equality: Exploratory Evidence of the Attitudes Towards and the Needs of Male Victims of Domestic Violence and Abuse in Northern Ireland with Recommendations for Change”, is one of the first pieces of research on this issue in Northern Ireland.  It presents evidence of public awareness of and attitudes towards male victims, as well is in-depth qualitative accounts of the experience and needs of these men.  It highlights a number of gaps in current service provision in Northern Ireland, and makes recommendations for improving services.  The report will be of interest to practitioners, policy makers and academics who work in this area and related fields.  The full report, as well as various summary documents, can be accessed (free of charge) from the MAP website at: www.mapni.co.uk

{jcomments off}The Men’s Health Forum in Ireland (MHFI) needs your help ...  We recently launched our new look website, and want to know if you are aware of any links that we should include in the Resources section.  This section is, currently, being developed, and will be expanded and added to over the coming months.  We would like to hear about any (especially local) research, reports, statistics, policies, support organisations, practical resources ...  that would be useful to those who work with men and boys.  Please send all suggestions to the Webmaster.   MHFI would like to thank Peter Robinson from Noostyle Web Design Belfast for all his help in creating this new site.

{jcomments off}The Irish Cancer Society, in association with Men Against Cancer, are hosting a national prostate cancer seminar on Saturday 6th November 2010 in the Alexander Hotel, Dublin, from 9.00am - 4.00pm.  This seminar will cover many aspects of prostate cancer, and will offer advice, support and information to men, and give them a forum to talk to other men and prostate cancer survivors about their concerns.  To book your free place / for further information, visit: www.cancer.ie/prostate or contact Eleanor at Tel: 00353 1 2310518.

{jcomments off}You are invited to a full-day workshop (10.00am - 3.30pm) which will explore the issues affecting men in Northern Ireland and the Border Counties.  This workshop will take place on Wednesday 3rd November 2010, in the Bee Park Resource Centre, Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim.  This workshop is for people who are active (either on an individual level or as part of a group) in the area of men’s issues and/or work with men’s groups.  There is no fee for participation in this workshop, and lunch and refreshments will be provided.  As numbers are restricted to 40 participants, a maximum of two people from any organisation can register.  For more information / to book a place, contact Aideen McGloin at Tel: 00353 71 9650690 or Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

{jcomments off}Hosted by the Community Development and Health Network in partnership with the Public Health Agency, this conference (Wednesday 27th October 2010 in the Hilton Hotel Belfast) will encourage debate between statutory services and third sector groups on effective ways of working together to address inequalities in Northern Ireland.  The conference will: explain the Marmot Review from a community development perspective; discuss how the objectives of Marmot can be implemented in Northern Ireland; use workshops to showcase examples of how Marmot’s policy objectives can be implemented in practice; highlight the role of the community and voluntary sector in promoting best practice when addressing health inequalities.  This conference will mark the beginning of “Focus on Health Inequalities” - a five week programme of events to demonstrate action being taken to address health inequalities and the wider determinants of health and wellbeing across Northern Ireland.  Click here for a Portable Document Format file with more details of the conference.

{jcomments off}The Sexual Health Team in Belfast Health and Social Care Trust invites you to a one day course on “Sexual Health Training for Youth and Community Workers”.  This will take place on Tuesday 7th December 2010 and Wednesday 8th December 2010 in the Millennium Community Outreach Centre, Springfield Road, Belfast.  Each course will cover: Risk Taking Behaviour; Sexual Health and Young People; Sexual Health Skills; Signposting for Young People.  To book a place on either of these days, contact: Joanna Gregg or Joe Harris at Tel: 02890 900051 or Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

{jcomments off}ARK aims to support policy development and debate in Northern Ireland by providing information and critical analysis.  Over the last two years, the Policy Unit within ARK has built upon its close connections with the voluntary sector, and has initiated links with policy makers within the Northern Ireland Assembly and Government departments.  It has worked to develop a facility for a more critical appraisal of policy which is based on knowledge and evidence, and to encourage public engagement with social policy.  In 2009, ‘Figuring it out: Looking behind social statistics in Northern Ireland’ (by Ann Marie Gray and Goretti Horgan) included statistics and lay-friendly commentary on key social policy areas, such as transport, health and social care, and education.  Since then, three policy roundtable events have been held, and a Policy Brief series has been initiated.  This series aims to explore key policy issues facing Northern Ireland, and draws on published research evidence and the discussions at the associated policy roundtables.  For more information, visit the Policy, Research and Resources section of the ARK website at: www.ark.ac.uk/intro/policy.html