Thursday, November 19th was International Men’s Day and the Carson J Spencer Foundation hosted their 4th annual Men’s Night Out, which included Healthy Men have Healthy Minds, a Men’s Mental Health Forum. The goals of the forum were to address issues related to men’s mental health, such as:
- To let men know they are not alone when feeling overwhelmed, stressed or depressed
- To educate participants about men-friendly mental health and support resources
- To build a community of men who are interested in supporting other men going through life challenges
Several Community Partners joined to share their related mental health resources and NAMI Colorado participated to further increase awareness of their programming, which includes mental health education, support and outreach. Jason Hopcus, NAMI Colorado Vice President and NAMI Arapahoe/Douglas Counties President represented our efforts at the Forum.
Some Community Partners in attendance were:
Mental Health Center of Denver
Arapahoe Douglas Mental Health Network
Aurora Mental Health Center
Jefferson Center for Mental Health
Office of Suicide Prevention
Project Helping
In addition to the valuable resources offered, the event focused on several guest speakers that included Keynote Speaker Josh Levs and breakout session speakers, Doug Gertner, Doug Vincent, Jarrod Hindman, Justin Krueger and Brett Zachman. Also among them was NAMI Colorado’s esteemed volunteer Jeff Zinn, who was the master of ceremonies, as well as a breakout session speaker on his topic of Transitioning Tragedy to Triumph.
According to NAMI National, 12 men complete suicide every day. “Man up” is not what to tell someone who needs help. This important event helps to change the viewpoint of how men see mental health, while building awareness of available support for them. A thumbs up to The Carson J Spencer Foundation and all contributing Community Partners for their efforts in this important men’s cause!
# InternationalMensDay #IAmStigmafree