15 November
Dear Sajid Javid,
I am writing to you today as a resident of England about the continued lack of support and societal understanding for men facing loneliness, mental illness, and suicidal thoughts.
As you may be aware, suicide is the leading cause of death for men under 50, and is linked to other mental health issues, notably depression. Unsurprisingly, Covid caused a spike in mental health referrals, with a recent BBC report revealing a 25% increase in June 2021 over 2019, according to NHS England. And, as is all too familiar, the majority of examples reported on were men. Suicidal men who said they had no one to turn to, and felt alone.
I myself have crushing, suffocating experience with these feelings, my reason for this letter, and from this I can tell you a huge change to the prevailing societal views towards men’s mental health problems is needed to end this. I’m sure you’re familiar with the notion of toxic masculinity, and although Britain’s marginally improved there’s still tremendous pressure for men to behave a certain way, instead of being free to be who they want, as everyone should be. This idea that “real” men don’t show emotion, and if you do, you’re weak, leaves many with trouble expressing, and sometimes processing, emotion. Even now, I’m finding it hard to articulate the effect it has on men who’ve grown up with it, and I’m one of them.
This difficulty, this shame, in expressing emotion cripples many men’s efforts to improve their mental health, not just alone but when trying to communicate with others. It even affects how connected men feel to others, and to other men especially; according to a US study, men are half as likely to feel they’ve had emotional support from a friend in a week as women.
What I’m saying is men don’t just need NHS support they aren’t getting, but society as a whole must learn to support them too for lasting, real change. Achieving this will save lives, and no one-off programme on the BBC will accomplish this when the people in your everyday life still judge you. As the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, you’re the single person most capable of tackling this, both in school-age boys and the adult men who find it especially hard to express themselves, and I’d like to know how you’ll work with the government to address this.
Thank you for your time. I would be happy to discuss this further and await your reply.
Yours Sincerely,
Ayrron Dale-Evans
Ayrron
Ayrron
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