An initiative to help young men cope with mental health issues is still ongoing through collaborative efforts.
Executive director of Family Life Centre in Parkwood Jennifer Papers said the #Mymentality Campaign was started as a partnership between the centre and Banele Rewo from aware.org based in Sandown.
Rewo said, “I found that a lot of men don’t seek counselling because of affordability challenges. So, I spoke to the people at The Family Life Centre and aware.org to assist me get my brothers help. So here we are. Through this initiative we’ll be offering the specific group free counselling.”
Papers said the campaign is aimed at men from 24 to 35 because statistics show that they don’t necessarily come for counselling.
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“However, it’s not restricted only to that age group, of course if a woman or any other age group approaches us, we would like to assist them. The campaign is really just aimed at mental health awareness month, which is October and we will run it throughout November.
“At the end of the campaign we will look at how many people we have reached and whether we were able to make an impact,” said Papers.
She said part of the campaign is also aimed at binge-drinking and looking at how alcohol abuse plays a role in people’s mental health. She said on their first week’s launch on October 1, 30 people had already contacted them.
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Participants can visit the Family Centre website www.familylife.co.za/mymentality and fill out a form. In the form, one can expect general questions about yourself and your drinking habits.
From there, clients are sorted out and referred to various centre branches according to what their needs are. Papers said, “We want to break the stigma that men don’t cry and encourage them to participate. We are also inviting sponsors who are interested in taking the campaign forward and be part of it.”
Details: Follow the Family Life Centre FAMSA JHB on Facebook for updates.
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