Global Citizens Group Newsletter - Movember

Editor: Daniel Joaille Burge

Photos by Ayaan Jaffar Pages: Global Citizans group

The month of

Movember

Facts

Did you know: in a recent study, 47% of men don’t talk openly about how they are feeling. Movember is a perfect time to talk about our feelings

Movember is observed by 20 different countries and it is still growing.

The gist of it

So what is Movember?

Many people say that ‘Movember is just another word for November’ . No it really isn’t - it’ s a representation of men's mental health and remembering some famous ones. In November, men grow moustaches to raise awareness of men's mental health, suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer. Movember was founded in 2004 by Travis Garone and Luke Slattery. They were in Australia at the time and had the brilliant idea of Movember over a quiet drink at the pub. So they got together 30 men willing to take up the challenge! Men usually don't like to share their feelings, they try and hide their feelings from others and don’t express them. Therefore they don’t get any help to support them through the tough times in their lives. Many people accept the idea that ‘Men are supposed to be the big strong people who are fearless and don’t get upset about anything’ – this is certainly not true. 27% of all men don’t have any close friends or even any friends at all to go to when they are feeling down. 47% of men don’t talk openly about how they are feeling as they may be a bit embarrassed or feel like they are going to be judged So, if you see someone - who wouldn’t usually have a moustache- with a moustache in November now you know why!

Movemberisabigeventthatgoeson duringthemonthofNovember.Itisvery importantasitisaboutmen’shealth.Some ofthehealthaspectsyoucannotseesuch asthementalsideofMovember.Mental healthisaveryseriousmatterasitcan causeveryseriousillness.Youcan'tsee mentalhealth,soitisamorecomplicated typeofillness.

by Hugo Vincent

Movember - Well What is it?

By Edward Parrish

Movember was founded in 2004 to raise awareness of men ' s health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, as well as mental health and suicide prevention.

Movember

The pioneers behind the No Shave November decided to use the challenge to advocate for prostate cancer. They later got in contact with the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, which accepted the funds raised through the movement By 2004, there were 450 Mo Bros in Australia, the UK, and Spain who contributed with 54000 AUD raised to support the PCFA.

tackles male mental health stigma head on, shifting the perspective that "emotional men are weak" through a number of mental health awareness campaigns

Who founds it & why?

Movember was first founded in a pub in Melbourne, Australia where Garone and Statterey joked about bringing moustaches back into fashion. They encouraged their friends to do the same. Inspired by a friend’s mother raising money for breast cancer, they decided to make theirs about mental health and physical health in men. They convinced others and 30 joined in. They created the rules of Movember which are £10 to grow a M Th il d i i d Th 30

by Nikil Dasgupta

RON DASGUPTARON DASGUPTA RON DASGUPTA

During Lockdown my dad raised over £600 for Movember by doing a funded walk with parents from Alban City School (my old school). It was organised to help people keep in touch and talk about things during Lockdown as well as showing they were not alone.

“We’re all facing challenging times, with work, family, and friends. We wanted to come together as a group and let people know, that it’s OK not to be OK. We’re a community and want to pull together in times of adversity. Men struggle to talk about these themes, especially when the pubs are closed So lets talk about depression, addiction and pressure on men in their 30s and 40s for a change and make things better for everyone, ourselves and those around us.

RON DASGUPTA

MEN'S HEALTH

Mens Mental Health is incredibly important. November is men’s mental health month, and it is important for anyone who identifies as male is able to talk about how they feel. Unfortunately, thereisstillabigproblemwithmenbeing abletotalkopenlyaboutmentalhealth.

Many people struggle with being able to talk openly about their mental health as therearemanywhostillpromotetheidea that men must be big bulky men without anyproblemsatall.Thisisnottrue. Men’sgeneralhealthandfitness. Oneofthemainhealthconcerns formen,astheygetolder,ishow tokeepfitandkeeptheirweight undercontrol.Nearly7in10men areoverweightorobese.Being obeseincreasesyourriskof numeroushealthconditions.

Men'ssuicidefactsandfigures.

Sincethe9thofSeptember2022, 524people endingupcommittingsuicideandthatisan alarminglyhighratewith22%ofthesebeing womenand78%beingmen whichisquite shocking.Movemberisabigtopicasithelps menwhofeelthiswayactuallyfeel comfortablespeakingtopeopleabouttheir problems. Suicideisoneofthebigtopicsin thismonthbutIthinkthatiskeytotakeaway thatitshouldn’tjustbeamonthbutallyear round. Thereisakeyphraseused“You'renot alone”. Thistopiccouldn't beanyclearer,if yourstruggling talkaboutit.

by Daniel JB, Finn Driver and Rocco Shelton

MEN’SMENTAL HEALTH

By Leo Clavier

cope with poor mental health. Understanding these differences and being able to recognise them is important. Most of these differences relate to society and gender stereotypes and expectations, with men and boys often putting on an act of bravado whilst women and girls are stereotypically more likely to communicate their feelings.

It's not always easy to spot signs of depression in men and boys as these signs can also relate to other problems However, the following signs could signal depression:

Irritability

Sudden anger Increased loss of control Risk taking Aggression

HOW TO HELP SOMEONE IF THEY ARE STRUGGLING WITH MENTAL HEALTH

by James Angus

Spot the signs, if you think you see someone is acting differently, go over and ask them how they are and listen fully to what they have to say. You should either direct them to help or tell someone who could help them. Don't laugh or mock the,and check up on how they are doing regularly.

An oblivious way to show your respect for Movember is growing a mustache, symbollistic and noteable, many teachers in our school have done such in previous Movembers such as Mr Lincoln, Mr Mallileu and even our Headmaster, Mr Silk

If you cannot grow a moustache, do not fret as youcaneasilydonate

Marvellous Men

D W A Y N E “ T H E R

O

C

K

” J O H N S O N A N D

H I S B A T T L E W I T H D E P R E S S I O N

Article written

by Eben Clarke and James Clements

Born:May21972

Place:California

Famous for: WWF wrestler, Hollywood film actor in The Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King, Jumanji, producer, businessman,philanthropist

Dwayne

WWF wrestler His films have grossed over $105 billion dollars worldwide making him one of the world’s highest paid actors and he has twice been voted in the top 100 most influential people in the world by TimeMagazine

Johnson was born in California into a poor family to a Canadian father and Samoan mother. His dad was an ex wrestler. He first experienced trauma when he was 15 and witnessed his mother run into traffic in a suicide bid when the family’s home was repossessed. He managed to drag her back but the experience affected him badly. He excelled at sports and despite a bad childhood he made it onto the football team and earned a place at the University of Miami playing football. However, he experienced further disappointment when it eventually became clear he would never make it onto a national team or go professional. Speaking later in his life, he admitted that this was the first time he battled with severe depression: “Struggle and pain is real. I was devastated and depressed”.

He managed to turn himself around and then turned to wrestling, where he had a hugely successful career and latercrossedoverintoacting.

He has more recently spoken openly about his lifelong battle with depression and about neverfeeling“goodenough”.He said ‘back then I didn't even know what depression was’ as men talking about their feelings was frowned upon back in the 80sand90s.

He has spoken about the effect of his mother’s suicide attempt, admitting that he found an inner strength to get himself through it but others are not so lucky “We both healed but we’ve always got to do our best to pay attention when other people are in pain,” Johnson said “We have to help them through it and remind them theyarenotalone”

Johnson is an American Canadian actor, producer, businessman, former American football player and former professional.

Marvellous Men

L U D W I G V A N B E E T H O V E N A N D P H Y S I C A L H E A L T H

Article written by Charlie Suthers

Ludwig Van Beethoven might well have been the most famous composer of all time

Born on 17 December 1770, Bonn, he wrote722piecesofmusicalltogether!

Some of his most famous pieces are Fur Elise, Ode to Joy, No. 5 Symphony and moonlight Sonata. Beethoven only actually heard some of his works because for someofhislifehewascompletelydeaf. He was also known for being rather seriousquiteoften.

It is thought by modern day psychologists that Beethoven suffered from bipolar disorder. Bipolar is when someone has periods when they are feeling all positive they can be hyperactive and other periods when they are down and depressed. In these manic periods of time he would work day and night on composing multiple pieces of music. He even refused his friends’ request to join them for supper as he did not want to be disturbed. In his depressed episodes of life he would say that these periods of time could go on for weeks until he felt better. Once Beethoven even sent a letter to one of his friends saying, “but one more day of pure joy”

Beethoven first noticed he was becoming deaf around 1798 and was completely deaf when he was around 44 or 45. Nobody knows why he became deaf, it might have happened due to natural causes.

Instead of talking to his friends and them talking to him they passed notes to each other instead. In 1824, the first time Beethoven’s majesticNo.9Symphonywasbeing played, he turned around at the end of the piece thinking that nobody was applauding; he realised that they were, he just couldn’thearit

Beethovendiedattheageof56,on 26March1826 Wethinkhediedof lead poisoning Beethoven really liked to drink a range of wine His favourite was a type that was fortified with lead So his liver stopped working This lead poisoning may have led to Beethoven’s other health issues like hisdeafnessorhisdepression