Our Hope for Males

Written by David Long, PhD 

In most every society, some of the most deeply-entrenched beliefs and attitudes have to do with gender. And as we see from decades of suicide research and statistics, gendered beliefs and attitudes clearly affect our behaviour, at times in quite deadly ways. For example, while females in all of their diversity are far more likely than males to attempt suicide, males in all of their diversity are 3-4 times more likely than females to die by suicide. Such statistics are often used to support the commonly-held belief that it is somehow “natural” for females to seek support and to talk to others about how they are feeling and what they are struggling with in their lives. Not surprisingly, they are also used to support the belief that it is equally “unnatural” for males to do so. 

Fortunately, there are many individuals, organizations and initiatives that are challenging the potentially deadly assumption that males struggle on their own with mental health issues because they are “naturally” unwilling and even unable to ask for help. Their efforts reflect their commitment to inviting males in all of their diversity to talk about their lives and receive the support they want and need. A select few of these that are based in Edmonton include: Living Hope, The Edmonton Multicultural Coalition, Connect’d Men, Men Edmonton, NextGenMen, Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services, Anchor Men's Group, Empowered Men, The Good Man Project, HIV Edmonton, Men’s Sheds Edmonton, KARA, Creating Hope Society, Alberta Father Involvement Initiative, Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society and The Community Network Group. The vision they share with many others is to provide support to the males in our midst and to cultivate a world in which males in all of their diversity will know that they can and are expected to ask for help simply because they are human.