Men’s Minds Matter – Tackling Male Suicide
We are passionate about men’s mental health, suicide intervention and prevention. We specialise in developing and delivering psychological interventions for individuals experiencing suicidal thoughts, while also advocating for and raising awareness about male suicide.
If you are supporting someone who is suffering with their mental health, visit our helping a friend page for advice and guidance.
If you are struggling and feel like you need some guidance on what to do, visit our dedicated page.
Men’s Suicide Prevention Fundraising
As men’s mental health specialists, we rely on fundraising efforts to carry out our vital work. Without this support, we wouldn’t be able to research and develop essential, life-saving tools. If you’re involved in fundraising, please consider supporting Men’s Minds Matter to help us save more lives from suicide.
Male Suicide Rates
Men account for three quarters of all suicides, and male suicides have always been disproportionately high. Suicide is the leading cause of death globally for men, across all age groups. Undeniably, it’s something that needs attention. As men’s suicide specialists, we focus primarily on the male experience, although our clinical model transcends gender.
Help Me, I’m Feeling Suicidal
Our free downloadable guide on what to do if you are feeling suicidal is made for people who are actively having suicidal thoughts. We hope it will help people stay safe and navigate difficult times. The guide offers ideas and suggestions on what to do and where to seek help.
Men & Boys – Suicide Facts
Men currently make up 76% of all suicides in the UK
On average more than 13 men a day take their own lives
Issues in Society
Donate To Men’s Mental Health Fundraising
Make contributions at our Local Giving page! All funds raised go towards combating suicide rates and supporting individuals experiencing mental health issues.
Men’s Suicide Prevention Volunteers
MMM has been built on the kind contributions of volunteers. Have something to contribute? We’d love to hear from you. We currently need help organisationally (accounting, business development, funding, website support) and with our web app development (coding, video production, copyright).
Depression In Men
Depression affects one in four people at some point in their lifetime, but women are more likely to be diagnosed than men. One reason for this is that men often struggle to identify how they’re feeling and don’t feel comfortable talking about their emotions. This contributes to problems worsening and help only being sought at the point of crisis, if at all. [Help for Men With Depression]
Stress In Men
Stress is something we all feel when we have too much on our plates. Modern life pushes us to our limits. We’re told we always need to give 100% or more. We see people on social media who appear to ‘have it together’. Much of the time, stress is brought on by unrealistic expectations.
Too much stress over a prolonged period might burn you out. It’s important to identify stress and its triggers, set clear boundaries, and manage expectations.
Anxiety In Men
Anxiety is not an emotion usually associated with men. This means that it often goes untreated. The unrealistic expectation that men don’t feel anxious at any time leads to feelings of shame. They struggle to admit they’re feeling anxious, and avoid seeking help or responding effectively to these feelings.
Attitudes Towards Men’s Mental Health
Mental health has long been a taboo subject, especially for men. But societal attitudes are changing. Talking about our mental health is becoming more socially acceptable. We’re learning more about how to support each other and realising that most people have gone through similar situations themselves.
Suicide Prevention
We’ve gathered lots of information about suicide prevention, including:
• Hotlines and organisations where you can get help
• Suicide prevention training
• Government programs
• Awareness campaigns
• Other charities who offer help and support
Dr Luke Sullivan
Consultant clinical psychologist and founding director of Men’s Minds Matter. Luke has been working in the field of suicide prevention and men’s mental health since 2004. In 2009, Luke set up Men’s Minds Matter and went on to develop the MMM model of psychological entrapment and suicidal crises. Additionally, Luke works in NHS crisis resolution home treatments with people who are actively suicidal and at risk of taking their own lives.
Nigel Sanderson
Nigel’s our guy with lived experience of suicide and depression. He’s been able to overcome both of these and now brings his expertise to Men’s Minds Matter so as to help others in need. He encourages people to actively discuss and promote men’s mental health, and helped in the development of the MMM model and interventions.
Nigel is currently studying to become a counsellor and is a practicing Buddhist.
Are We a Men’s Mental Health Charity?
Men’s Minds Matter is a limited by guarantee community interest company (CIC) instead of a charity. This alternative not for profit charitable structure provides a range of benefits that allow us to provide a better level of service than we would be able to provide if we were a men’s mental health charity.
Men’s Mental Health Charities
Because a charity is led by a board of trustees, the founders have a lot less say about how the organisation acts and what the focus is. The direction charities take is often decided by the trustees, which is great in many ways.. However, having worked very closely with other men’s mental health charities, who broadened their focus to be more inclusive and gender neutral, we’ve seen first hand how this can lead to a loss of focus on the male experience. If we transitioned to a men’s mental health charity, the board could change the aim of our organisation and we could end up in a similar situation.
Because we also develop psychological interventions for people at risk of suicide we believe the CIC set up works better. We keep this narrow focus on suicide intervention and saving lives. Nevertheless, we are guided by our community through advisory groups which include researchers, clinicians and people with lived experience.
Community Interest Companies
A CIC limited by guarantee is a special type of limited company which exists to benefit the community rather than private shareholders. CIC’s limited by guarantee provide an alternative structure to charities. CIC’s and governed by Companies House and we have to report to them to ensure our work meets the needs of the communities we serve. They operate in very similar ways but there are some fundamental differences.
At MMM we do not have any shareholders, ensure all the money we raise is used to benefit our community we serve and unlike some Men’s Mental Health Charities, invest the money we raise into what we say we will.
Being a CIC, we can focus on exactly where we believe we can have the greatest impact without being swayed by the potential for extra funding and attention. Our particular type of CIC is limited by guarantee, which means that the money that we fundraise must be used for the community purpose we serve and it can’t be taken out to line the pockets of shareholders (because we don’t have any!). We believe any organisation that takes public money to provide health services should not have shareholders. It’s unethical.
Because we’re a CIC, we’re also allowed to sell products to fundraise such as our Unisex Hoodies and other products in our store.