This talk was presented at the 2017 National Suicide Prevention Conference held in Brisbane. It was delivered by Glen Poole, Development Officer the Australian Men's Health Forum (AMHF) and draws on AMHF's 2016 position paper: "The Need For Male-Friendly Approaches to Suicide Prevention".

1. By Glen Poole, Development Officer, AMHF
How to Develop a Male-Friendly
Approach to Suicide Prevention

2. 2
The peak body for male health
in Australia focusing on the
social issues that shape men
and boys’ health and wellbeing.
What is the Australia Men’s Health Forum?

3. 3
“Those most at risk of premature death and illness include Indigenous males,
males from rural and remote areas; those with blue collar backgrounds; males
with mental illness; war veterans; gay, transgender and intersex people;
males with disabilities; socially isolated and non-English speaking males.”
Male health in Australia, a call to action (AMHF position paper 2016)
We care about men in all their diversity

4. 4
80.4 years, male
life expectancy
(84.5 years female
life expectancy)
500 people a week
die prematurely,
nearly two thirds
are male
1 in 4 males die
before they reach
65 (and 1 in 7
females)
7 out of 10 young
people who die
each year are male
96% of people who
die at work are
men
73% of people who
die in transport
accidentsare male
4 times more men
under 65 die from
heart disease than
women
100 more men than
women die from
cancer every week
Indigenous males
die 10 years
younger thanNon-
Indigenous males
4 times more
research funding is
given to women’s
health
10 Top Male Health Issues

5. 5
6 male suicides a
day and 2 female
suicides a day
41% increase in
male suicide
(2006-2015)
2 boys and young
men under 20 die
by suicide each
week
#1 killer of men
under 45
40-54 year old
men record
highest number of
suicide
85+ men have the
highest rates of
suicide
$6m is the
estimated cost of
each individual
suicide
$13.75B the
estimated cost of
male suicide per
year
2x more likely to
suicide if you’re
ATSI male
4x more likely to
attempt suicide if
you’re GBTI male
10 top facts about male suicide

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1,500 men’s
lives a year
$9.3B a year
Closing the gender suicide gap would save:

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“It appears that women are more likely
to benefit from all of the [suicide
prevention] strategies than are men.”
David Lester, Suicide In Men (2014)
#SuicideStrategyFail

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3 reasons most strategies are more female friendly
They primarily
view suicide as
a mental health
issue?
01 They place
more priority
on spotting
and helping
suicidal people?
02 They place
more priorityon
people who’ve
attemptedsuicide?
03

9. 9
Suicides linked with a mental health diagnosis
44.4%
male suicides
63.6%
female suicides

10. Suicides linked with a mental health diagnosis
People who die by
suicide, but don’t have
a mental health
diagnosis, are nearly
five times more likely
to be male.

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Reported levels of suicidality
WOMEN
42%
more likely to think
about suicide
more likely to attempt
suicide
more likely to make
suicide plans
WOMEN
67%
WOMEN
75%

12. 12
People completing suicide at first attempt
44.4%
female suicides
72.3%
male suicides

13. 7 ways to make your suicide prevention strategy or service male
friendly
1. Turn your thinking outside in
2. Challenge the three big myths about male suicide
3. Focus more on the situational factors
4. Be gender inclusive (not gender-biasedor gender neutral)
5. Focus on men’s strengths
6. Consider the needs of men and boys in all our diversity
7. Predict and measure your impact

14. #1. Turn your thinking outside-in
The inside-out
model of suicide
prevention
SUICIDE
Acquiring the abilityto
suicide
Becomingsuicidal
Having mental healthissues
FEELING SUICIDE
PLANNING SUICIDE
ATTEMPTING SUICIDE
ANXIETY
SUBSTANCE
ABUSE DISORDERS
DEPRESSION
OTHER MENTAL
HEALTH ISSUES

15. #1. Turn your thinking outside-in
The outside-in
model of suicide
prevention
SUICIDE
Is suicide the solution?
Can I live with my problems?
Can I cope with my problems?
FIXING PROBLEMS
COPING WITH
PROBLEMS
ABILITY TO SUICIDE
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
BEHAVIOURAL
PROBLEMS
RELATIONSHIP
PROBLEMS
PSYCHOLOGICAL
PROBLEMS
Can I fix my problems?
HAVING PROBLEMS

16. #2. Challenge the three big myths about male suicide
MYTH FACT
Men DON’T talk Men DO talk (if you know how to listen)
Men DON’T get help Men DO get help (if you know how to give men help)
Men DON’T deal
with depression
Men DO deal with depression (often differently from women)
Most male suicide is not associated with diagnosed depression

17. #2. Challenge the three big myths about male suicide
Men DO talk
“Every week separated fathers of all backgrounds attend
our Dads In Distress meetings and talk to each other in a
structured way about their situation. 51% report
suicidality at their first meeting. After three sessions that
drops to zero.”
Pete Nicholls, CEO, Parents Beyond Breakup

18. #2. Challenge the three big myths about male suicide
Men DO get help
“Instead of focusing on help seeking, we decided to
focus entirely on help offering. Help offering skills
are simple skills that can be taught to
anyone. Thousands of workers across Australia are
realising that saving a life is not that hard.”
Jorgen Gullestrup, CEO, MATES In Construction

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Men DO deal with depression
(but we don’t always talk about it)
The top ways men cope with depression
1. Eat healthily (54.2%
2. Keep myself busy (50.1%)
3. Use humour to reframe thoughts/feelings (41.1%)
4. Exercise (44.9%)
5. Do something to help another person (35.7%)
[11. Talk to people close to me, or someone I trust (29.2%)]
Source: Doing what comes naturally: positive self-help strategies used by men
to prevent depression and suicide, Beyond Blue/Movember)
# Challenge the three big myths about male suicide

20. #3. Focus more on the situational factors

21. #3. Focus more on the situational factors
“Regardless of what mental health issues surround a
suicidal person, it is likely that the crisis state that they
are experiencing is fuelled by specific negative life
events such as relationship breakdown, or life-changing
impacts such as a lack of employment, continuing
discrimination, or background trauma.”
Alan Woodward, Executive Director,
Lifeline Research Foundation

22. #3. Focus more on the situational factors
A recent study of male farmer suicides found that while 22% of the men in the
study suffered a long-term mental illness, 78% of the suicides were associated with
acute situational distress linked to relationship issues/family breakdown or a
work/financial crisis.
A separate study of men in Western Australia aged 65 to 85, found that around 83%
of suicides in this group were not associated with a mental disorder.

23. #4. Be gender inclusive (not gender-biased or gender neutral)
“Suicide prevention programs are generally not
targeted on gender grounds. The challenge is that most
services are gender-neutral, which may mean that in
effect they are not focused on reaching men, not
satisfactory in their character and offer of service to be
seen as useful by men.”
Pete Shmigel, CEO, Lifeline

24. #4. Be gender inclusive (not gender-biased or gender neutral)
Gender Neutral
Blind to gender differences, unconscious of gender bias
and ignorant of the gender barriers that some people face
Gender-Biased
Gendered approaches that seek to favour one gender over another
run the risk of excluding or disadvantaging those they are biased against.
Gender Inclusive
Gender inclusive approaches actively and consciously seek to overcome
the gender barriers that people face without creating negative bias. For example,
offering a male-friendly service in addition to (not in opposition to) a female-friendly
service (or vice versa)

25. #5. Focus on men’s strengths
Men’s Sheds a great Australian success story

26. Why Men’s Sheds work:
§ There are more Men’s Sheds than McDonalds in Australia
§ They are based on the principle that “men talk shoulder-to-shoulder, not face-to-face”
§ They operate in the ultimate male-friendly environment: The Shed!
§ They allow men to retain independence and self-reliance
§ They reduce social isolation
§ They focus on physical action (and social interaction is a by-product)
§ They give men a sense of purpose
§ They enable to get help while giving help to others (reciprocity)
#5. Focus on men’s strengths

27. #6. Consider the needs of men and boys in all our diversity
Wingmen is a beyondblue and National LGBTI Health Alliance project developed
by gay guys for gay guys; funded with donations from The Movember Foundation

28. #6. Consider the needs of men and boys in all our diversity

29. #7. Predict and measure your impact
PREDICT
If you stop and think, it is predictable (for example) that a project targeting
people who’ve previously attempted, will reach more women than men. What
else could you predict if you started to think in a more gender inclusive way?
MEASURE
If we never measure how well we do in terms of gender inclusivity, then we’ll
never know how gender inclusive we are or if we’re improving. What KPIs can
you start to measure to keep track of how much more gender inclusive you’re
becoming (or not)?

30. National Male Suicide Prevention Conference

31. Any questions?
Who
What
When
Where
Why
How

32. Confidential32
Don’t be a stranger….
Glen Poole
Development Officer
Australian Men’s Health Forum
development@amhf.org.au
www.amhf.org.au