Every minute of every day one man dies of suicide somewhere in the world. International Men's Day is designed to improve men's health, well-being, and gender equality and for 2023 it has a specific theme of 'Zero Male Suicide', to encourage everyone to consider the solutions we can implement to improve male mental health and eliminate suicide.
In support of this objective DWF has created the following to support male colleagues and encourage an open dialogue around mental health in the workplace.
Event
DWF colleagues Jonathan Head and Dan Monaghan will be holding a virtual Men's Mental Health Listening Session. This will be a safe space in which men from across the global organisation can share their thoughts and experiences in regards to mental health. In 2024 DWF will be scheduling regular follow up sessions to keep the conversations going.
'Men at Work' employee group
As part of International Men's Day 2023 DWF are taking the opportunity to promote and grow their Men at Work group, a sub group of their wider Gender Equality Employee Network, This is Me. The Men at Work group has a Yammer / Viva Engage space and Teams channel through which members can share content and connect. The distribution list will also be used for key communications and to invite members to new events.
'Men at Work' intranet hub
DWF have used their global intranet to launch a special hub of support resources for male colleagues. This includes links to mental, physical, financial, and relationship health resources. For example, articles and support on eating disorders and men, becoming a new father, parental leave, etc. It also includes reminders that policies such as carers, fertility and miscarriage leave plus flexible working policies are all gender neutral and available all colleagues.
Colleague feedback
DWF also provided feedback opportunities for colleagues to share their views on what further resources and support they would like to see around the topic of men's mental health in the coming year.
Please note that information about these initiatives was shared across all the DWF Employee Networks and Groups in acknowledgement of the intersecting identities of men within the global organisation. Reference was also specifically made to the inclusion of non-binary and trans colleagues.