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Making Connections for Mental Health and Wellbeing Among Men and Boys community coalitions address the role that social, economic, and environmental factors play in shaping mental health and wellbeing for men and boys. They take on issues like community safety, stable and affordable housing, access to educational and economic opportunities, and social connection—all of which are foundational to mental health and wellbeing.
Making Connections focuses on boys and men of color, military service members, and veterans, because they are at a higher risk of mental health challenges than others. Veterans and military service members are nearly twice as likely to take their own lives as non-veterans. And boys and men of color are more likely to experience poor mental health due to multi-generational trauma, higher exposure to poverty, and higher rates of incarceration. However, both groups have cultural strengths that can be tapped into to build their resilience against mental health challenges.
Making Connections sites apply a “gendered lens” to their efforts, which means their initiatives have been developed in collaboration with men and adopt male-friendly approaches and preferences for engagement. This includes creating safe, male-friendly spaces and offering programs and activities that are appealing to men. Making Connections sites are also working to deconstruct unhealthy norms about what it means to be a man—things like being discouraged from expressing emotions and feeling stressed for failing to meet certain expectations—and develop programs and policies that instill healthier norms like social connection, civic engagement, and equitable relationships.
We encourage you to peruse the new Making Connections website. Making Connections is demonstrating that community-based approaches to improving the mental health and wellbeing of men and boys can make a difference that goes beyond individuals to affect entire communities.
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