Yesterday was a day when the mainstream media was focussed to a large degree on an example of how toxic masculinity and narcissism to a probably disordered level, can negatively impact on everything around it. Today, I would like to draw attention to an article on the BBC website which gives me some hope regarding how things needs to and can change for men around their mental health. A link to the article is below:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65032395
It is a short piece in which professional footballer Ben Chilwell talks about his struggles with his mental health whilst injured and how important it is for men to seek support when they are struggling.
I would suggest if certain ex prime ministers had sought psychological support when they were a young adult or been offered support when they were children around their domestically abusive father, then a lot of things that have gone wrong for this country in the last seven or eight years might never have happened.
This is an extreme example maybe, and I don’t want to take away from my main point that men need to be encouraged and supported more to seek professional psychological support when they are struggling. Too many are overcome by anger, guilt and shame which clouds their judgement and can lead to much more serious issues in the long term.
This is a theme I am keen to develop over the next twelve months at Elpis. I work with a lot of people with male partners who are in obvious need of psychological support, yet they for whatever reason, struggle to seek or engage with the support out there. There are many different reason for this and over time I hope to be blogging something about as many of them as I can on here.