Innovators who are revolutionizing men’s mental health
The realm of men’s mental health is experiencing a renaissance, and we’re proud to be on the frontier of change. For too long mental health for guys has been: A) far too stigmatized to discuss openly, and B) a casualty of staid, boring and ineffective treatments.
Tired of dealing with the status quo, we decided to blow up the old guard by creating a mental health framework that starts men talking, keeps them interested, and gets results. And we’re not the only ones interested in making mental health more accessible for guys: below are the top innovations we see that are shaking up the world of men’s mental health:
- Walk the talk. With more and more high-profile men talking publicly about their mental health – from Prince Harry’s mental health documentary to Prince William’s Heads Up campaign to Ryan Reynold’s social media admissions – the struggle is becoming more normalized and not something you need to bear alone
- Change the game. Elite sports are no longer just about superior physical performance. The importance of emotional and mental agility is being realized as major leagues and sports associations are getting involved in mental health, not just in the conversation but in treatment and support, too.
- Take a trip. Talking about mental health isn’t the only thing that’s losing its stigma. Research on psychedelic-assisted treatments using LSD, Ketamine, Mushrooms and MDMA has shown promising results as alternative treatment options to people who are resistant to traditional mood-enhancing pharmaceuticals.
- Even the odds. Recognizing mental health issues are the pandemic of the 21st century, policymakers are making a compassionate societal shift towards the legalization of all drugs for minor possession in Canada. This will start destigmatizing addictions and start helping people instead of jailing them.
- Counselling for men. Our treatment framework blends the best aspects of coaching, personal development, and professional training to focus counselling in a way that guys get, broken into progressive sessions with milestones and targets with a finite end date. Meanwhile, we’re building a collaborative treatment team by adding coaches, registered social workers and psychologists who can customize our treatment approach to each client, and we’re creating a unique couples’ counselling process that’s geared towards men.
“I know I’m not alone and more importantly, to all those like me who overschedule, overthink, overwork, over-worry and over-everything, please know you’re not alone…We don’t talk enough about mental health and don’t do enough to destigmatize talking about it.” – Ryan Reynolds, Actor
If footballers, princes and Deadpool-alum are talking about their struggles with mental health and getting treatment, it’s okay for you to do it too. And when investors start supporting a movement in the billions and policymakers start disrupting the norm, it signifies there’ll be major changes ahead. So what does this mean for you? When you start talking about how you’re doing, you realize that being open and honest is a relief; that there are tools to be learned to cope; and that what once was a “struggle” with issues like depression and anxiety can actually be used to your advantage.
