Bid to reduce suicides in young men

The government has launched a new drive in an attempt to reduce suicide rates in young men.

Health Minister Rosie Winterton published a report outlining the findings of three pilots which have been looking at ways to reduce suicide rates in young men, in order to mark Men's Mental Health Week.

The three government funded projects were set up in 2004 in order to help identify the barriers that may discourage young men from seeking help and also look at ways of reaching out to this particularly vulnerable group.

The pilots, which were based in Camden, Bedfordshire and Manchester, found that community-based locations such as youth centres and youth-oriented services offered a more successful means of engaging with young men than more formal settings, such as GP surgeries.

Frontline staff were also found to be better able to engage with young men, when given appropriate training.

The results suggested that alternative terms to 'mental health', such as 'dealing with stress' or 'wellbeing', needed to be adopted to encourage young men to engage with future projects and to ensure that mental health issues are discussed in a non-stigmatising way.

It was also recommended that proactive and community-based outreach programmes should be established as these approaches were perceived by young men as more acceptable, less threatening to their self-esteem and less risky, since staff were perceived as less likely to share information with other agencies, such as the police.

The results also suggested that accessible information and advice needed to be available for family and friends of young men, since they were likely to provide a more immediate and trusted source of support.

Speaking at the 'Mind Your Head' conference, organised by the Men's Health Forum, Rosie Winterton, said: "There is no health without mental health and we are committed to getting this message across to young men. Men are almost three times as likely to take their own life as women. We must do everything we can to prevent these deaths as each case is a needless tragedy for the friends and family of the victim, as well as for society.

"Although we have recently seen a fall in the suicide rate amongst young men, we need to work hard to ensure that this downward trend continues. We already have a national suicide strategy that is starting to have an impact, but we need to redouble our efforts in getting young men to look after their mental wellbeing and seek help when they need it.

"The lessons learned by these pilots will help services improve the way they engage young men."

(KMcA)