Celebrated five years of Making Connections for Mental Wellbeing

In 2015, Prevention Institute and Movember set out with a diverse group of coalitions from urban and rural communities across the country to transform their communities to better support boys’ and men’s mental health and wellbeing. The results of the Making Connections initiative have been truly inspiring. Leaning into their communities’ priorities and assets, the coalitions shifted policies, practices, and norms to create greater opportunities for health and resilience for veterans, military service members, and boys and men of color. To share the solutions developed by Making Connections coalitions and support other communities wanting to use similar approaches, we developed the Making Connections Backpack, a guide to creating gender- and culture-informed, community-level approaches to improving mental health and wellbeing. This work was supported by Movember. Photo by Jill Hodges. This photo was taken prior to the coronavirus pandemic.