Male suicide is the second biggest killer of young men in this country, yet the problem remains largely ignored.
When you think that we’re often brought up to believe that boys don’t cry, perhaps it’s not that much of a surprise that so few people feel able to talk about how they’re feeling.
In an attempt to understand this problem more deeply and to see if more can be done to raise awareness of the issue, I’ve agreed to spend some pro bono time with the Campaign Against Living Miserably (or CALM for short), a charity established to help reduce the high suicide rate among young men.
CALM are particularly interested to learn more about how they can use social media to campaign more effectively on behalf of the people who need their services, and don’t yet know they exist. And this is where you come in.
I thought it would be interesting and useful to throw open the question, ‘how can we use the social sphere as a means of raising awareness of male suicide?’ to you too. If you are interested, there have already been a number of comments and contributions here. Feel free to take a look and add something to the mix if you would like.
I’ve been invited to join a panel discussion at the Robertson Cooper Good Day at Work conference this coming Thursday. Maybe I’ll see a few of you there and we can talk more about this and other wellbeing stuff that’s on your mind?
Doug Shaw is head of employee and customer engagement consultancy, What Goes Around.
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