Suicide Prevention Australia’s 2018 conference will kick off today at the Adelaide Convention Center and Men Care Too is proud to be part of the poster presentations that will be on display during the conference.
The Men Care Too poster aims to raise awareness of the 1.2 million Australian men in unpaid, informal caring roles and highlight the challenges of caring from a male perspective. Issues that the poster calls attention to are masculinity, male suicide, male friendly services and lastly, what could perhaps be the key issue, social connectedness.
Having mates and belonging to a group is important for self-worth however men in caring roles don’t often have that opportunity to connect or feel valued outside the caring relationship and informal, unpaid male carers are largely overlooked in carer support planning and delivery. Society has traditionally viewed caring as a feminine role and as such there is a real and perceived stigma associated with being a man in a caring role. Men are less likely to seek help and often only when at a crisis point do they come in contact with services and support that could have potentially made a difference if offered in a more effective manner earlier.
Here in Australia and in countries all around the world, men account for approximately 75% of all suicides and male carers are a group who typically face a range of situational risk factors for suicide including social isolation, financial disadvantage, relationship breakdowns and physical health issues.
The Men Care Too poster aims to promote discussion on how to improve carer support systems that include and engage effectively with men which could potentially provide a framework for working with other vulnerable and hard to reach groups of men.
For updates and photos from the conference follow Men Care Too on Twitter and Facebook, keep an eye on the conference hashtag #NSPC2018 and connect with Suicide Prevention Australia through their website and social media channels.
Download a high resolution PDF version of the MCT poster here.
If you or someone you know is in need of support or advice within Australia contact Mensline on 1800 789 978 or the Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467
For anyone living outside Australia visit Your Life Counts to find your local phone support service.
Statistical references from the poster:
Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2018 - http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4430.0
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2018 - https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/men-women/health-of-australias-males/contents/table-of-contents
Men Care Too, 2017
WGEA Data Explorer, 2018 - http://data.wgea.gov.au/industries/6