HUMEN https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html MailPoet Page HUMEN University Mental Health League Table It’s World Mental Health Day and it seems very apt that our new website goes live today! We are changing the face of what it means to be man. Leading the movement to improve men’s mental health. We want men and women to be allowed to express their emotions equally. Traditionally this hasn’t been easy for men. It’s not as easy for men to talk and be open about their emotions; from as young as 6 boys are taught to reject emotions that have been feminised. A consequence of these repressed emotions is that it often leads to various forms of ill mental health. As you’ll see from our website, we’ll be launching The HUMEN Space. It’s a Gym For the Mind, a place where men can learn how to talk. It’s the one place where there is no need to put on a front or bravado, the one place where you can reveal fears without risk of judgement or ridicule, the one place where you can be fully human. We are paving a better way forward so that we can reduce the negative consequences of ill mental health we see all over the globe in men, to create a better world for everyone. Website link in bio Having a mental illness doesn’t mean “you can’t be happy and in a relationship!” Those are the words of @nbcsnl comedian @petedavidson who has spoken out after he heard rumours that people with borderline personality disorder, like himself, can’t be in a relationship. “It doesn’t mean that person makes the relationship toxic. I just think it’s fucked up to stigmatise people as crazy and say that they are unable to do stuff that anyone can do. It’s not their fault and it’s the wrong way for people to look at things. I may be crazy but at least I’m aware of it and not afraid to be honest about it and I’m not hiding behind a Twitter or Instagram account.” He continued, “Mental illness is not a joke, it’s a real thing. There’s kids out there killing themselves. And it’s fucking horrific. For all those struggling, I want you to know that I love you and I understand you and it is going to be okay. That’s all. Love to everyone else.” What are your thoughts on his very honest and human message? Share them below What makes you human? I first starting feeling anxious when my father passed away in my early twenties. It was overwhelming and in the end it led to panic attacks because I didn’t address it. I’ve always been involved in rugby and I felt people would look down at me for showing what I thought was “weakness”. In the end the attacks were so frequent I couldn’t keep them to myself. It led me to get counselling and I started to control my anxiety. After 10 sessions I thought that was me “cured” as I felt better, so I stopped going. Years had gone by since the counselling and I reverted back to burying the worries and sadness. It took a breakdown at work for me to realise that I needed help again. Dealing with this stuff isn’t something that I can address overnight or in 10 sessions. It’s something that’s now part of my daily routine like brushing my teeth. Submission @quinndog_86Send your submissions to hello@wearehumen.org Mission RISE AGAINST SUICIDE 2022 Films HUMEN Space 1:1 Home Episode 3 – Relationships | Danny Cipriani Episode 5 – Hope | Andrew Scott Episode 4 – Perspective | Bill Nighy Episode 2 – Identity | David Gandy & Alan Carr Episode 1 – Change | Tom Odell The HUMEN Series Trailer 20 Men 1 Question No caption necessary Brand Assets Ambassadors | Supporters | Partners Churchill said “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” Let’s hold the space for each other to open up and speak but also hold the space without judgement to really listen HUMEN wear and Merch MailPoet Page HUMEN wear and merch HUMEN KeepCup I have struggled with what manhood actually means for most of my life. Like most black men in America my father endured a trauma that I didn’t quite understand until I was older, that left him emotionally removed from his own children. The best male example I knew was my grandfather, I lost when I was 12 years old. As a result, I learned what I perceived to be manly, on the streets and from friends. My father never taught me the strength and vulnerability of men showing emotion because he didn’t know himself. I spent years resenting and vowing to never be that way until that insecurity crept into relationships with loved ones. I didn’t realize at a young age that choosing to ignore the pain and insecurities I held, only left them to be healed at a later time. I can’t say I’m perfect in anyway, but I am grateful to have been made aware of my own trauma through my own mistakes and missteps, and to actively decide to bring them to light and healing. It’s a process of being triggered at almost every turn. A process that I have accepted as the work that must be done to shift the cycle of trauma and emotionally removed black men in my family. Submission by @jeremym.green thank you for the thank you for thank you for and @humenorg with @get_repost ・・・ As the youngest of three boys I always idolised my bigger brothers. They were my heroes in many ways, I wanted to be just like them, but in return, I felt like I was nothing more than an irritation, an invasion of their space. Subconsciously I grew up feeling like I wasn’t worthy, that I had to prove my worth to be liked. By the time I was a teenager this had set in deep, in lacking self belief I stripped myself of authenticity and instead just tried to fit in, it was an empty way of being. In a bid for external validation, the gym gave me the chance to change how I appeared, but internally I still struggled with how I felt about myself. Having worked hard on my mindset and becoming more proud of who I am, I’ve come to understand that real confidence isn’t walking into a room thinking I’m better than everyone else, it’s walking in not worrying what anyone thinks of me. So now, when I face challenges and my inner voice still tries to tell me “you’re not good enough”, I know not to listen. That frees me to be me, and that’s when I feel truly alive. Submission by Ben @thenakedprofessor 📸 @threepeaksvisualsupply As the youngest of three boys I always idolised my bigger brothers. They were my heroes in many ways, I wanted to be just like them, but in return, I felt like I was nothing more than an irritation, an invasion of their space. Subconsciously I grew up feeling like I wasn’t worthy, that I had to prove my worth to be liked. By the time I was a teenager this had set in deep, in lacking self belief I stripped myself of authenticity and instead just tried to fit in, it was an empty way of being. In a bid for external validation, the gym gave me the chance to change how I appeared, but internally I still struggled with how I felt about myself. Having worked hard on my mindset and becoming more proud of who I am, I’ve come to understand that real confidence isn’t walking into a room thinking I’m better than everyone else, it’s walking in not worrying what anyone thinks of me. So now, when I face challenges and my inner voice still tries to tell me “you’re not good enough”, I know not to listen. That frees me to be me, and that’s when I feel truly alive. Submission by Ben @thenakedprofessor The HUMEN T-shirt I’ve been guilty of accepting that how I feel is just “how it is”. There is a tendency to merely find ways to get through the day, rather than ways to make each day better than the last. Why should we accept things we have the potential to change and more importantly, improve? It is as if pride gets in the way and that looking for a solution means accepting that there is an issue in the first place. Even now, I would never classify myself as having suffered from depression and I truly believe that. It may just be stubbornness and pride that men especially seem to hide behind but I believe a big part was my initial lack of understanding of just what mental health encompassed. Having come from a loving, stable and supportive background, I didn’t feel I had the right to feel the way I did, let alone complain about it. I learnt that mental health is not so black and white. It is more of a spectrum, one that we are all on. You may not be dealing with depression but it is important to understand that having more bad days instead of good days isn’t something that has to be accepted as just part of modern life. My perception that I didn’t have the right to complain about these low days was wrong. Your experiences are your own and even those you experienced them with will perceive things differently. Therefore, there is no comparison, there is your experience and your perception. It is subjective, just like an opinion, but the great thing about opinions is they can change. Opinions can change when they are presented with new information which can come from all around us. Whether it be an organisation such as HUMEN or a conversation with a friend. Any proactive action you take can allow you to understand different perceptions. It won’t always be the answer, but it may help you see things from a perspective you would never have even imagined. Submission @leewatson942 It’s all too easy these days to look at other people’s lives with a quick glance and see nothing but perfection. The problem with that is you start to think yours is a failure. You start to compare yours to the “perfect” life you see before you and lose confidence in what you are doing in yours. Before long self doubt kicks in and you wonder where yours went wrong. And of course, of course we are men. We can’t have those thoughts, we are meant to be the strong ones right?! But that’s the problem. None of what you see is reality. It’s a highlight reel of someone’s day or the most perfect moment in their life. You don’t see the lonely nights in or the anxiety of will you “succeed” in life. You just see what people want you to see. I own a business, I have some great friends and an amazing family around me but I have daily struggles and fears of whether I’ll build the life I think I should have or make a success of my business or be able to provide for the children I don’t yet have! It’s crazy but when all I see around me is my peers supposedly succeeding and my life not where I want it to be it’s easy to think I’m doing something wrong and failing despite so many things going well. Submission @ashtonevolve353 Send your submissions to hello@wearehumen.org Today marks three months since the death of Anthony Bourdain. No matter how outwardly successful or celebrated someone is it doesn’t mean they’re not struggling. There are universal challenges we all face. He shared so much with us about food, travel, community, love, kindness and humanity. Thank you Anthony. 25th June 1956 – 8th June 2018 Never forgotten Listen. It’s not enough to say that we need to talk. Often what it takes is to not only have someone to talk to but to have someone to really listen. It’s not just the talking but the hearing. If someone takes the courage to talk, take the time to really hear. Does anyone agree or has anyone had this experience? @robertdowneyjr always keeps it very real and that doesn’t change when he speaks about being a father to his son. It’s clear that he cares about being a decent human being rather than an outdated idea of what a man ‘should be’, “hero to me is not applicable to the human experience. I think that we all do heroic things, but hero is not a noun, it’s a verb Word Privacy Workplace Wellbeing: How Many Mental Health Days Are Too Many? Ways To Support Your Loved Ones & Things That Make Depression Worse 6 Ways We Can Combat Overthinking Together Stop Searching For How To Be A Better Person Everyday Value = success. Not the other way around. Do you agree? Do you sometimes tell your barber more than you do your close friends or family? It’s often a place where you can actually sit and be still, with fewer distractions and reflect a little. That’s why we’ve joined barbers across London for a fundraising initiative for World Mental Health Day on Wednesday 10th October. Today marks the first day of the initiative and we’re giving a shout out and a big thank you to @therefinerylondon. They’ll be adding a discretionary £1 donation to each transaction across both of their locations for the whole of October to support HUMEN in honour of World Mental Health Day. If you’re in London go down for a trim and a talk to support World Mental Health Day @humenorg with @get_repost ・・・ Churchill said “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” Let’s hold the space for each other to open up and speak but also hold the space without judgement to really listen The HUMEN Post “Through my nightmare I found my dream!” It’s impossible to even begin to imagine what it’d be like to be wrongly accused of murder at only 14 years of age! And then serve the next 17 years in prison for a crime you didn’t commit. That’s what happened to @therealjohnbunn from Brooklyn, New York. He battled the courts, police investigators and PTSD. The anger and bitterness he felt caused him to become more aggressive in prison than he’d ever been. The fear he had inside him was coming out as violence. He couldn’t read or write but was determined to write a letter to his mother, so slowly he learnt. In one letter to his mother he said, “they can lock my body, but they can’t trap my mind.” This new skill is what changed his whole mindset. “I felt trapped without a voice for so long, but the power of reading could take my imagination, and take me to anywhere in this universe.” Reading and literature had such a profound effect on John’s life that in May 2018, when he was eventually freed from his wrongful conviction, he set up “A Voice for the Unheard.” It’s a project refurbishing libraries in under-resourced communities and supporting teen boys in prison with their reading skills. “Reading changed my life. I want to share that experience with other people. There’s no greater feeling than me feeling like I’m existing for a purpose, and this is what gives my life purpose right now.” He moved beyond the limiting idea of what it means to be a man to create a life changing purpose for himself and so many others. This man is an incredible human The HUMEN Space You don’t ever have to lose if you learn from it Impact