In December 2016, Prevention Institute and the Movember Foundation brought together 60 partners from across the U.S. for a convening of the Making Connections for Mental Health and Wellbeing Among Men and Boys initiative. The convening, which came as Making Connections communities were moving from a year of planning into activating their strategies to improve men’s and boys’ mental wellbeing, offered communities the chance to share their successes, struggle with their challenges, and draw inspiration and support from the community of practice.
The two-day event at Prevention Institute’s headquarters in Oakland, California, began with small group coaching sessions on strategies for communications, policy change, and developing a theory of change. Community representatives also participated in podcast discussions on fostering authentic engagement of young men, and on elevating indigenous wisdom. Convening sessions included a mix of panel discussions, small group work sessions, and peer-to-peer dialogues on effective community-based strategies for promoting mental health and wellbeing among men and boys. A short summary of what emerged at the convening follows.
The agenda reflected the challenges and incorporated the approaches that communities are using in their work. For example, convening discussions on trauma and healing illuminated the fact that many of the men doing this work regularly experience trauma themselves, and may experience trauma in these discussions. This understanding underscored the need to provide opportunities for convening participants to debrief and receive the support of the Making Connections community. The mix of small and large group discussions and the norms established by the group created a safe space for communities to connect, reflect, lead, share power, and feel supported in taking chances. Ultimately, the convening highlighted the power of coming together as a community of practice to offer and receive support in this complicated, critical work.
The following key themes emerged from discussions.
Fostering Authentic Engagement Among Men and Boys: To truly engage men and boys, we must meet them where they are; provide space and opportunity for them to meaningfully participate; foster collective decision-making; be authentic and transparent; and build trust, connection, and belonging. This includes:
- Connecting in the places and through the activities with which men and boys are already engaged.
- Creating a safe space by working through existing relationships, and being transparent about goals, participants, and decision making.
- Engaging the population of focus at every level of the work, from planning and data gathering, to budget allocation, to implementation.
- Providing appropriate training to make that engagement effective.
Moving Towards Healing and Resilience: To support community trust, healing, hopefulness, and resilience, we must acknowledge and address past and current events and dynamics that contribute to distrust, and work intentionally toward common goals and practices that help restore relationships among community partners and improve outcomes for men’s and boys’ mental wellbeing. This includes:
- Recognizing and addressing sources of trauma.
- Using collaborative planning processes that promote collective learning and decision making.
- When appropriate, incorporating indigenous practices of the population of focus.
- Bringing mindfulness to discussions on trauma.
We want health departments and their partners across the districts they serve to understand the veteran experience and how that impacts the whole community’s health, as well as family wellbeing. - Susan Bockrath, Nebraska Association of Local Health Directors
Maximizing impact by Moving Upstream: To create broad, lasting change, we must shift our focus to the upstream conditions that can affect men’s and boys’ mental health and wellbeing, such as social networks, safe spaces to gather, access to living wage jobs and affordable housing. Examples of this work include:
- Developing peer-to-peer strategies to broaden community understanding, connections, and engagement.
- Changing organizational practices, for example establishing a “no wrong door” approach among providers for serving veterans and their families.
- Advocating for policy changes, such as a tax levy to support affordable housing--an issue that disproportionately affects men.
Above, watch a discussion on the challenges and strategies for fostering community development without displacing current residents featuring Charles Corprew, President WYRevolution Consulting in New Orleans, Marcos Beleche, Associate Director of the Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation in Boston, and Ramla Sahid, Executive Director of PANA, the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans, in San Diego.
How do we make it equitable for everyone to have the ability to thrive? - Charles Corprew, President WYRevolution Consulting
Building Sustainable Infrastructures: To sustain this work, we must ensure that it fully engages the strengths and talents of the men and boys it aims to benefit. This includes:
- Seeing and drawing on community strengths, including existing partnerships and indigenous practices and frameworks.
- Being intentional about community engagement; recognizing and building on ongoing efforts, ensuring that all partners remain actively involved and contributing.
- Building capacity to support engagement.
- Considering and addressing unintentional consequences, e.g., creating development plans that will not displace existing residents.
In the closing circle of the convening, participants honored the wisdom, experience, and power of the Making Connections community. Many said the convening had fortified them to do the slow, steady work of improving community conditions for men’s and boys’ mental wellbeing.
Changing mental health and wellbeing for men and boys is tough work, and so this is a place where they can draw inspiration, they can remind each other that yes, this is hard but yes, this is essential. - Sheila Savannah, Director, Prevention Institute
Credits:
Photo: Prevention Institute