Myths, Action, Hope
A summary of the webinar on September 7th marking World Suicide Prevention Day.
To mark World Suicide Prevention Day 2023 Jonathan’s Voice and IP Inclusive held a free webinar on Male Suicide – Myths, Action, Hope. The theme for this year was again “Creating Hope through Action.” The session was led by Susie Bennett from the University of Glasgow’s Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory, Mark Fudge and Professor Andrew Reeves. Susie is conducting research into male suicide under the direction of Professor Rory O’Connor. Her work is part-funded by Jonathan’s Voice; you can find out more about it here
Below is a summary of Susie’s presentation, kindly written by Anne Burgato at IP Inclusive.
“There are many myths around male suicide and around the male behaviours that can contribute to suicidal thoughts. However, the truth is that men do deal with their emotions in their own way and express themselves with their own emotional language when they are given the right space and permission to do so. We all need to look beyond the expressions of distress that we have been socialised to expect and tune in to hear the expressions of distress that are actually being given. And that means there is hope. Once we start to take action and provide men with the spaces they need and listen to the language they are speaking, instead of expecting them to fit into the services that are not working for them, hopefully they will get the help they need before they reach crisis point. And there is hope that with more research and awareness we as a society can start to challenge these myths before they become embedded and internalised.”
You can read a fuller summary, here.
A recording of the event will shortly be available
Jonathan’s Voice is very grateful to Andrea Brewster and IP Inclusive for hosting the event and to Anne Burgato who wrote such an excellent summary. It was first published on the IP Inclusive website.
