Little Things can make a Big Difference to Young Men’s Mental Fitness

The Men’s Health Forum in Ireland (MHFI) has just released a report on the findings from the first phase of their ‘Engaging Young Men Project’ (EYMP).  This report highlights that young men do care about their mental health and that - by changing even little things - service providers can make a huge difference to the quality of their engagement with young men.  Between March 2011 and October 2012, MHFI coordinated an action learning project which sought to identify a range of possible means to promote positive mental health among young men on the island of Ireland.  The final report on this initiative made twelve key recommendations.  During 2014, MHFI was supported by funding from the National Office for Suicide Prevention to support the roll-out of one of these recommendations.  This led to the establishment of the Engaging Young Men Project - which seeks to develop a training package that will increase the capacity of service providers to effectively engage with young men in relation to their mental health and wellbeing.  The full report on the first phase of EYMP is available for free downloading at: www.mhfi.org/EYMPmappingreport.pdf