{jcomments off}To keep everyone up-to-date with the latest news on Men’s Health Week (MHW) 2015 - as well as more general developments in the field of men’s work - you can pretend that you’re young, hip and cool, and visit Facebook and Twitter.  To find out more, see: www.facebook.com/MensHealthWeek  and  www.twitter.com/MensHealthIRL  However, as all social networkers know, pages such as these are no use unless they have a lot of Fans / Followers.  That’s where your help is needed! ...  Please visit the pages, click on the ‘LIKE’ button for Facebook and ‘FOLLOW’ button for Twitter, and send the link to all your friends.  If you’re really into it, please Tweet about MHW 2015, and include #CreatingCultureChange in your message.

{jcomments off}Cancer Focus Northern Ireland invites you to attend their 2015 Men’s Health Conference which will: examine health and wellbeing with a focus on empowering older men to improve their health and access support when needed; present interim findings from the Well Aware project; present NI Cancer Registry research; highlight awareness and screening campaigns; consider the personal experiences of men in relation to health and cancer.  This event will take place on Thursday 4th June 2015, in the Dunsilly Hotel, Antrim, from 9.00am to 1.00pm.  To register your attendance, or for further information, contact Denise Bownes at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

{jcomments off}You are invited to apply for a place on an ‘Engage’ Men’s Health Workshop which will take place on Tuesday 9th June 2015, from 9.30am to 4.00pm, in Craigavon Area Hospital, Portadown, Co Armagh.  The aim of this training is to increase participants’ understanding of best practice in engaging men with health and social services, and will look at: the broad determinants of men’s health, including how gender influences men’s approach to looking after their own health; how to guide health consultations with men using brief intervention and motivational interviewing techniques; how best practice guidelines in working with men can be used to engage men more effectively with health and social services; the barriers and prompts experienced by men when accessing health and social services.  The facilitators will be Rosemary Daly and Nuala Quinn from the Southern Health and Social Care Trust’s Promoting Wellbeing Team.  To book a place, contact Mairead Casey at Tel: 02837 412129 or Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

{jcomments off}The vision of the Western Health and Social Services Trust Mental Health Service is to support people on a journey of recovery by making the best use of their talents and resources in becoming experts in self-care.  The Trust aims to move mental health services beyond responding to illness to being a service concerned with building a greater quality of life, by empowering people with mental health challenges, their families, friends and the community.  To promote this goal, you are invited to a health fair titled ‘Discovery to Recovery’ on Thursday 4th June 2015, at 9.30am, in The Guildhall, Derry / Londonderry.  At this event, the Trust will also launch their service user group, SMILE (supporting mental health in lived experience), and introduce participants to the recently developed ‘My Mind’ smartphone app.  For more information, email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

{jcomments off}The Gay Men’s Health Service (GMHS), HSE, and partners Gay Health Network (GHN) with the support of the Department of Health, the HSE’s National Directorate Health and Wellbeing, and Primary Care and Mental Health is pleased to announce the 13th Annual Gay Health Forum (GHF13).  This will take place on Friday 5th June 2015, at The Printworks, Dublin Castle.  Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) are recognised as a key target group for HIV prevention, sexual health awareness, and care and support services.  The GHF13 theme will be: ‘Empowering: Sexual Health and Well-Being’.  GHF13 provides an important platform for presentations from recent clinical audits, research, and surveillance reports on HIV and STIs.  For further information on GHF13, email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

{jcomments off}During May 2015, See Change will be coordinating a month long Green Ribbon campaign to get people in Ireland talking openly about mental health problems.  More than 500,000 green ribbons will be distributed nationwide (free of charge) to spark a national conversation about mental health in boardrooms, break-rooms, chat rooms, clubhouses, arts venues, college campuses and around kitchen tables throughout Ireland.  The aim is to make the month of May synonymous with promoting open conversation about mental health, and challenging the stigma which is often attached to mental health problems.  For more information, visit: www.greenribbon.ie

{jcomments off}Even if you don’t do anything else to support Men’s Health Week (MHW) this year, you can at least put up a poster to let everyone know when it’s taking place!  To highlight MHW 2015, Tony Ward - former Ireland international rugby player - is starring in an island-wide poster campaign to raise awareness of the week.  The message on this poster is very simple: ‘It’s time for a new script’.  The posters will be ready by early May, are free, and will be available in A3 size hard copy as well as in a range of electronic formats (from the Men’s Health Forum in Ireland website).  Following on from the success of last year, an A6 size ‘postcard’ version of the poster will also be available.  This can be sent to men you know or given out as a flyer.  To order copies of the poster and postcard, email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  Please give your name, organisation (if applicable), postal address, telephone number, and state how many of each publication you would like to have.

{jcomments off}There’s no denying that the state of men’s health on the island of Ireland is often poor.  However, there are things which can be done to change this situation and men, themselves, can play a key role in doing this.  A free 32 page Man Manual (based upon the ‘Haynes Manual’ model) will soon be launched by the Men’s Health Forum in Ireland to mark Men’s Health Week 2015.   It poses ten simple and practical health challenges to men and, to meet every challenge, it offers three choices.  All 10,000 copies of this manual were snapped-up within a few weeks last year - so, if you would like some copies to distribute to the men you know / work with, get in touch soon!  You can see what last year’s version looked like at: www.mhfi.org/challenges.pdf   The 2015 edition will update some of the content in this version.  To order copies, email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and provide your name, organisation (if applicable), postal address, telephone number, and state how many copies you would like to have.  The publication of this booklet has only been possible because of the generous support given by the Public Health Agency in Northern Ireland, the Health Promotion and Improvement Department within the Health Service Executive in the Republic of Ireland, and the author - Dr Ian Banks.