Men's Health Forum in Ireland: News

NEWS

This page acts as a Bulletin Board for announcing up-and-coming events or requesting help or publicising a new initiative ... It is open to anyone working in this field. Please contact us to have the details of your event/request posted.

"Nowhere Man" - Men's Health Seminar
The Young Men's Unit (YouthAction), Men's Action Network and The Men's Project (Parents Advice Centre) are pleased to invite you to apply for a place on their forthcoming men's health seminar titled: "Nowhere Man". This event is being hosted by William Hay MLA (Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly) and Pat Ramsay MLA, and will ...

take place on Wednesday 10th September 2008;

begin with registration / refreshments at 9.00am and finish with lunch served at 1.00pm;

be held in the Long Gallery of Parliament Buildings at Stormont, Belfast.

This free event (supported by funding from the Gender and Sexual Orientation Equality Unit within OFMDFM) will highlight key men's health issues / needs within Northern Ireland, and will identify actions to address these difficulties. It will be of special interest to anyone who has responsibility for developing health and well-being policies / strategies / services; researchers with an interest in men's health or masculinities; "equality leads" in a range of government departments; experienced men's work practitioners.

For more information, please visit: www.mensproject.org/nowheremanflyer.pdf or, to get a registration form, visit: www.mensproject.org/nowheremanform.pdf

Men's Health Week 2008
Men's Health Week (MHW) always begins on the Monday before Father's Day and ends on Father's Day itself. This year it ran from Monday 9th June until Sunday 15th June 2008. The overall aim of MHW is to heighten awareness of preventable male health problems, and to encourage early detection and treatment of health difficulties for men and boys. Each year there is also a focus upon a specific theme. The theme for this year was: "Men and Work".

The Men's Health Forum in Ireland marked this week by promoting men's health in the media and by distributing a mini-manual which focuses on men's health in the workplace. Copies of the mini-manual are available from ...

Finian Murray, Men's Health Development Officer, Health Service Executive Dublin / North East, Dublin Road, Kells, Co Meath, Tel: 0035346 9280644, Email: finian.murray@hse.ie

Care To Make A Difference’ Programme
The POISE ‘Care To Make A Difference’ programme is a free five-day pre-recruitment programme taking place June 2008 in Lisburn. It is designed for people who may want to gain employment in services for people with learning disabilities but lack the necessary experience. Participants may have had previous caring experience either within their families, or in other care settings but extensive experience is not essential. Participants who complete the full programme will be guaranteed an interview for a range of entry-level jobs in public and voluntary sectors partner organisations. We are especially keen to involve men and older people (50+), who are severely under-represented within the sector.

Contact Suzanne Thompson on (028) 90 751454 or email poise.research@caresector.net for further details.

Toddler Manual for Men
By popular demand from the ever-growing number of readers of the “Baby Manual”, Dr Ian Banks now turns his attention to the “terrible twos” (and threes, and fours). His new “Toddler Manual” is now available in hardback. For more details visit: http://www.haynes.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&productId=44865&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=1015

The Life of Women and Men in Europe - A Statistical Portrait
Eurostat has just produced a publication on gender statistics in Europe. This describes the situations of men and women at different stages of their lives (from childhood to older age), and looks at issues such as education, health, lifestyles, careers, family life, retirement ... It can be downloaded in Portable Document Format (PDF) from their website at: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1073,46587259&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&p_product_code=KS-80-07-135

Men in Northern Ireland (MiNI) Factsheets: The Men's Project have discovered that it is often very difficult to find key statistics relating to men/boys in the north of Ireland - unless you are a very competent statistician! This, therefore, limits our understanding of their needs and the difficulties facing them.

The Men's Project is pleased to announce that three of our five statistical fact sheets, which look at specific aspects of being male in our community, have recently been updated. These "Men in Northern Ireland" (MINI) factsheets were prepared by the ARK team within Queen's University Belfast and the University of Ulster. They focus upon general statistics on males, men in the family, and men's health.

You can download Portable Document Format (PDF) versions of these factsheets from our website at: www.mensproject.org/facts or from the ARK website at: www.ark.ac.uk/services/saucproject.html#mini

Sexual Health Awareness Campaign: The Health Promotion Agency has worked on sexual health issues for a number of years and has implemented an ongoing campaign to provide public information on sexual health to 18-30 year olds. In February 2007 radio advertisements were developed to be broadcast during St. Valentine’s week. Please click here for further details.

Out On Your Own: Is the name of a research project undertaken by The Rainbow Project which investigated the mental health of young same-sex attracted men. The findings illustrate that homophobic attitudes and prevailing heterosexism in Northern Irish society - together with the isolation that being non-heterosexual may bring - play a major part in the incidence of mental health difficulties, suicidal ideation and self-harm in this population. Click here to access an online version of the report or here for the front cover of the report.

Men's Health in North and West Belfast: The North and West Belfast Area Health Promotion Consortium recently held a Men's Health Workshop to identify and prioritise key issues for their catchment area. The meeting sought to review current work and to carry out a needs assessment of the North and West Belfast area. Arising from this gathering, a Men's Health Steering Group has been established to develop an action plan. Contact Joan Melanophy, Project Development Worker, at Tel: Belfast 02890 417400 to find out more.

Men's Life and Times Research: ARK (a joint initiative between Queen's University Belfast and the University of Ulster) has launched its latest Research Update called "Mystery Man". This reports on data from the 2004 Northern Ireland Life and Times (NILT) Survey, which records the attitudes of the public in Northern Ireland to key social issues. The Men's Life and Times module is the only large-scale random sample survey conducted in Northern Ireland of attitudes of both men and women to a range of men's issues. It looks at five policy areas: health and health services; work-life balance; paternity pay; support structures; family law. Mystery Man can be downloaded from the ARK website Users can also download the questionnaires, technical notes and the dataset (in SPSS format). Hard copies of the update are available from Colin Fowler of The Men's Project.

Irish Men's Health Consultation: For the latest information on the development of the Department of Health and Children's Men's Health Policy (Republic of Ireland) please visit: www.healthinfo.ie/menshealth

Men in Northern Ireland (MINI) Fact Sheets: The Men's Project worked with staff from ARK in Queen's University Belfast and the University of Ulster to prepare five headline fact sheets on local men. These key statistics relate to demography, work, health, education and family life. They are available for free downloading from their website. Alternatively, hard copies are available by phoning Colin Fowler or Trisha McQueen at Belfast 02890 310891.

Men's Health in Ireland: The Men's Health Forum in Ireland launched their seminal report "Men's Health in Ireland" in January 2004. This provides the most comprehensive overview of key statistics on men's health on the island of Ireland that has ever been collated. It also makes a number of recommendations for improving the health of local men. The report is available for free downloading from this website.

A Report on the State of Men's Health across 17 European Countries: The European Men's Health Forum (EMHF) produced a report which examines a broad range of men's health issues throughout 17 European countries. The main report, an executive summary, and details of the launch are now available for free downloading from their web site at: www.emhf.org

International Men's Health Database: The International Men's Health Database (IMHD) is a directory of individuals and organisations that work with, or influence the health of men within their country and internationally. It is intended to be a key resource for health practitioners, academics, users of health services and policy makers. This is a public database, giving free access to the information it contains. Visit it at: www.emhfdatabase.org

Needs of Single Rural Men: The report on the research conducted by North Leitrim Men's Group into the needs of single rural men can now be accessed online at: http://homepage.eircom.net/~nlmensgroup

Men's Work Directory: For the past seven years, The Men's Project within Parents Advice Centre has maintained an online Directory which gives details of groups/projects (in both the north and south of Ireland) that are working with men and/or who have a particular interest in issues which affect men. This reference bank is currently being updated. It is a free service which provides a vehicle for new and established groups to advertise their project and to access a self-help 'map' to identify other local sources of support/expertise. If you would like to be included, please contact Colin Fowler at Belfast 028 90 310891 for a profile sheet.

WWM Net-worker: Working With Men in England produce a monthly e-newsletter, called WWM Net-worker. This is a free listing of activities, training, conferences, events, packs, jobs and anything else useful to practitioners in the field of men's work. The Net-worker goes out at the beginning of each month. To receive this, visit www.workingwithmen.org go to the Networker page and complete the form.