This year’s theme for Mental Health Week is compassion, with the slogan, “A Call to be Kind.”
When it comes to men’s mental health however, for men, being kind to themselves is not always easy, which is where the Heads Up Guys website comes in.
Founded in 2015 by UBC psychiatry professor John Ogrodniczuk, the site is a program of UBC and offers, among several topics, a self-check questionnaire, advice for dealing with depression, dealing with crises, a self-care tool kit, stress management and advice for friends and family supporting men who are dealing with depression. A list of therapists is also provided, based on region, in cities across Canada and in the U.S., Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Remote therapy also is available.
After being online for nine years, thousands of men have clicked on, providing an example of the anonymity of the website creating substantial social good.
Delta/Langley resident Brad Newell and his family got involved in 2016. He is in charge of promotion and fundraising and has raised thousands of dollars for the charity.
“Heads Up Guys is an amazing resource for men. It’s one of the few in the world,” Newell said. “It’s an amazing website. It’s got a ton of good information on there, you know, if you’re in a dark place. It’s got lots of information on there for women, you know if your guy is screwed up. It’s easy to navigate.”
Since 2016, five million people from around the world have visited the site and more than half a million men have done the free, anonymous, mental-health self checkups.
“Every guy should do it,” said Newell. “It will just tell you if you need help.”
The site gets comments from men around the world, with many referring to the benefit of participating in the self-check questionnaire which takes just a few minutes.
According to the website, in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K., men have a suicide rate three times that of women and suicide is the leading cause of death for men under 50.
Men’s mental health can be overlooked because they don’t reach out or say much when things start to bother them.
“There’s so much stress in this world, can’t pay our bills, not getting along with our wives … too much social media,” said Newell.
In a family, if mom’s not happy, nobody’s happy, but if dad’s not happy, who cares? he added.
“And everything’s on dad. He’s supposed to suck it up and be stoic …”
However, Newell, who grew up in Delta and owns the King of Floors store in Surrey, and King’s Links by the Sea said he doesn’t like the word “mental” health. Instead, he’d prefer the term brain health, noting that everyone’s different.
He says the charity is efficient.
“The name is really known now in B.C. And this is one of the best-run charities on the planet,” Newell said.
Ogrodniczuk is the driving force behind it and saw the need for it in 2015, Newell said. “This thing’s only going because of him,” Newell said.
The Newell family are also major sponsors.
