“Real strength lies not in silence, but in the courage to speak up and share how we truly feel.”
The Source Team
On this page we cover the following:
Stuff happens
You think that nothing bad will ever happen to you, but unfortunately life’s not like that, and when something does go wrong, it can be hard to talk about it! As men and boys, we aren’t encouraged to talk about our feelings, or we shy away from it. But if we stay silent and don’t talk about how we feel this can affect our mental health.
What would you say to a young man struggling with their mental health?
This YoungMinds Tik Tok pretty much sum up this advice to any guy out their who is struggling right now…
“We all worry about who we are and what our place is in the world” – says Gage Nicholas, a young person who lives in Suffolk, who feels that men and boys need to talk more about their mental health, and shares, with The Source, his journey into accepting and understand himself, and how he deals with difficult feelings and finding support – read his advice below…
Toxic Masculinity and Mental Health
This video from Jamal Edwards, founder of film-making company SBTV, looks at breaking taboos around men’s mental health.
There are lots of expectations about the way boys and men should behave to live up to societal expectations of masculinity. For example, unwritten rules about what clothes we should wear and how we should present ourselves, so that our “man status” isn’t questioned.
We need to question and challenge society’s prehistoric definitions of what makes us a man, these standards hold us back from going to see our GP if something doesn’t seem right or sharing our feelings to our mates when we need help. Read more about toxic masculinity on YoungMinds – Toxic masculinity and mental health and also this guide to being a man from BBC Three
The video below from Childline is good at capturing the pressures of masculinity on young men…
If you are struggling like the guy in the video, see below for places you can go to talk and get support.
“Who can I speak to?”
Need to talk about it? Can’t speak to your mates or family? Don’t struggle alone, get free, anonymous advice:
- CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) – a charity for men and boys to talk anonymously with men. Call their helpline on 0800 585858 (open everyday 5pm-midnight) Or ask a question through their webchat.
- NHS Mental Health Crisis Support Line, call 111 and press option 2 – urgent crisis mental health support.
- Kooth – provide a one2one messenger service and their website has live forums you can explore.
- ChatHealth – Text a school nurse for confidential advice about a health issues.
- Childline support page Call 0800 1111
Quick links to health pages
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Page updated on November 28th, 2023 at 10:54am
