Mentoring Men

Mentoring Men

I’ve recently been working with a fantastic organisation based in Sydney called Mentoring Men.

The fundamental purpose of the organisation is suicide prevention, and given that three quarters of all people who commit suicide in Australia are men, there seems to be an urgent need for a service that specifically targets males.

One of the innovative features of Mentoring Men is that it is a proactive service. In other words, rather than responding to men who are already suicidal, as is the case with organisations like Lifeline and Beyond Blue, Mentoring Men proactively seeks to engage with men who have had challenging life experiences and are at risk of becoming suicidal in the future.

In academic circles, two of the most important factors leading to suicidal ideation are believed to be “thwarted belonging” and “perceived burdensomeness.” By connecting men who have had challenging life experiences with mentors, Mentoring Men hopes to address these two ‘risk-factor’ emotional states.

A mentor isn’t a psychotherapist, they’re not going to suddenly start delivering CBT or narrative therapy in a consulting room. It’s nothing like that. They’re someone with life experience that these men can talk to on a regular basis, meeting in a park or cafe.

Via Mentoring Men, I have been providing counselling to men with challenging backgrounds, who would benefit from seeing a psychotherapist to prepare them for pairing with a mentor. It has been some of the most challenging and rewarding work of my life.