It’s shocking that 12.5% of men in the UK are suffering from one of the common mental health disorders (estimated by The Men’s Health Forum). And men are as much as two and a half times more likely than women to die by suicide each year, with one of the most at-risk groups being men in their 40s to early 50s.

Other key statistics which show the scale of the problem include:

• three in four deaths by suicide are by men
• the highest suicide rate in England is among men aged 45 to 49
• men living in the most deprived areas are ten times more at risk of suicide than those living in the most affluent areas.

Despite this, men are significantly less likely to access mental health services than women. The Mental Health Foundation found that 28% of men had not sought medical help for the last mental health problem they experienced, and 35% of men had waited over two years or have never disclosed a mental health problem to a friend or family member. Another survey, from the Men’s Health Forum, found a majority of men would take time off work to seek medical help for physical symptoms, but less than one in five said they would do the same for anxiety (19%) or feeling low (15%).

It’s clear, then, that there are strong cultural barriers facing men in relation to mental health diagnosis. Perceived stigma and ideas of masculinity can cause them to avoid seeking help or fail to acknowledge mental health issues.

Changing attitudes in changing rooms

We’ve written previously about the success of Men’s Shed projects in providing a safe, social space for men’s mental health issues to be addressed. We were interested, therefore, to hear about another scheme which is also using a community-based approach to explore men’s health.

The Changing Room Initiative is a two year pilot project which sees the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) Trust and Hibernian (Hibs) football club working in partnership with the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) to engage men in their community around issues of mental health and wellbeing. The project uses football and sport as a tool to encourage men to discuss their mental health and wellbeing and to help direct them to additional support and services within their community.

The initiative is part of a wider program from SAMH which is using sport to improve equality and reduce stigma around mental health. In February 2018, SAMH launched Scotland’s mental health charter for physical activity and sport. Signatories of the charter include Sport Scotland, SPFL Trust, Jog Scotland and Glasgow Life.

In October 2018, following the success of the initial pilot scheme, SAMH announced a second changing room initiative was due to be rolled out at another Edinburgh football club, Heart of Midlothian FC (Hearts).

Using sport to engage and improve mental health

There is a lot of research available which highlights the links between positive mental health and physical activity. Even low-level physical activity has been found to have a positive impact on our mood and general wellbeing. Activities like walking, cycling or gardening have been shown to reduce stress improve self-esteem and have a significant positive impact on depression and anxiety. However, research has also shown that people with mental health issues are also more likely to have poor physical health, and often face additional barriers to participating in sport and becoming active.

The Get Set to Go programme was launched with the support of Sport England and the National Lottery in July 2015 to help people with mental health problems benefit from being physically active. An evaluation of the project published in 2017 showed that physical activity has an important role to play in building resilience, enabling and supporting mental health recovery and tackling stigma and discrimination.

New support networks

There is a continuing push among healthcare and third sector professionals to stress that mental health is just as important as physical health. However, funding for mental health is comparatively low and research shows people are far more willing to acknowledge or accept help for physical illness.

With the roll-out of projects like the Changing Room Initiative to promote mental health in familiar environments, it’s hoped that those struggling with poor mental health will receive the support and treatment they need.

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