Men's Health Week 14th - 21st June 2021

Men’s mental health has been a concern before the pandemic happened due to the high number of men who die from suicide and the low number of men who seek treatment for depression, anxiety and other mental health challenges. 

During the lockdowns, groups of male-dominated workforces have suffered in terms of loss of jobs and income, with men more likely to be in roles that couldn’t work from home.  

This Men’s Health Week, there are two campaigns to help support men to move forward out of the pandemic and to improve mental health and wellbeing. 

The first is recognising that today’s Covid world is different and accepting that it’s normal to feel different too. As society opens up, we need to open up too. Let’s all talk about how we feel.  

Healthwatch Bexley spoke to several men in Bexley about how the pandemic has affected them.  Download our report to find out more

The second campaign is the CAN DO Challenge, which encourages men to take a positive mental wellbeing action every day for the five days of Men’s Health Week. 

The five actions are: 

• Connect - connect with other people (eg. call an old friend you haven't since before lockdown) #connectmonday 

• Active - move your body (eg. go for a run/walk/swim/dance/etc) #activetuesday 

• Notice - take notice of the environment around you (eg. turn off your phone for an hour) #noticewednesday 

• Discover - learn something new (eg. read a book you haven't read before) #discoverthursday 

• Offer (or give) - do something for someone else (eg. volunteer for a local community group) #offerfriday 

You can find out more about Men’s Health Week 2021 on their website: https://www.menshealthforum.org.uk/mhw