Global Citizens Group Newsletter - Movember

Issue No. 2

Editor: Daniel Joaille-Burge Photos by Ayaan Jaffar Pages: Global Citizans group

Movember Get your moustache on!

Celebrating the great men in this great month!

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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!

More on

Movember

by Hugo Vincent

How do we raise awareness

Men grow moustaches to raise awareness for Movember as it is a symbol for the charity.

Movember is a big event that goes on during the month of November. It is very important as it is about men’s health. Some of the health aspects you cannot see such as the mental side of Movember. Mental health is a very serious matter as it can cause very serious illness. You can't see mental health, so it is a more complicated type of illness.

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Over 60 men commit suicide every hour.

Men’s health can be just as bad as their physical health.

Since the Movember foundation was created they have raised approximately 857 million pounds.

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 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?

The pioneers behind the No-ShaveNovember 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.

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TRAVIS GARONE AND LUKE SLATERY:THE ORIGINALS 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 Mo. They sent out an email and it continued. The 30 new “MoBros” helped set up a website, a board and started running the campaign abroad.

RON DASGUPTA

by Nikil 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 Movember 14 2022

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, there is still a big problem with men being able to talk openly about mental health.

Men’s general health and fitness.

One of the main health concerns for men, as they get older, is how to keep fit and keep their weight under control. Nearly 7 in 10 men are overweight or obese. Being obese increases your risk of numerous health conditions.

Many people struggle with being able to talk openly about their mental health as there are many who still promote the idea that men must be big bulky men without any problems at all. This is not true.

Men's suicide facts and figures.

Since the 9th of September 2022, 524 people ending up committing suicide and that is an alarmingly high rate with 22% of these being women and 78% being men - which is quite shocking. Movember is a big topic as it helps men who feel this way actually feel comfortable speaking to people about their problems. Suicide is one of the big topics in this month but I think that is key to take away that it shouldn’t just be a month but all year round. There is a key phrase used “You're not alone”. This topic couldn't be any clearer, if your struggling - talk about it.

by Daniel JB, Finn Driver and Rocco Shelton

MEN’S MENTAL HEALTH

By Leo Clavier

Mental health is a difficult and confusing subject that affects us all. There has been more research in recent years about mental

YOU CAN GET HELP

health than ever before. Some of this new

WITH DEPRESSION FROM

research has shown that there are some big differences between how men and women cope with poor mental health. Understanding

MANY PEOPLE AND PLACES SUCH AS:

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

PARENTS GUARDIANS

boys often putting on an act of bravado

FRIENDS

whilst women and girls are stereotypically

FAMILY

more likely to communicate their feelings.

SCHOOL

It's not always easy to spot signs of

COUNSELLOR

depression in men and boys as these signs

TEACHERS

can also relate to other problems. However,

DOCTORS

the following signs could signal depression:

CHARITIES, LIKE MEN

Irritability

IN SHEDS

Sudden anger

TOGETHER

Increased loss of control Risk-taking Aggression

AUGUST 22, 2019

VOL. 29

HOW TO HELP SOMEONE IF THEY ARE STRUGGLING WITH MENTAL HEALTH

How can you help someone?

by James Angus

1. Spot the signs, if you think you see someone is acting differently, go over and ask

KEY POINTS

SPO T THE SIGN S LISTEN

them how they are and listen fully to what they have to say.

2. You should either direct them to help or tell someone who could help them.

3. Don't laugh or mock the,and check up on how they are doing regularly.

DIRECT THEM TO HELP

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?

Lucien Carron

Movember Events

Grow 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

Donate If you cannot grow a moustache, do not fret as you can easily donate

Mo Awards Winners: Fine Growth Award Going the Distance Award Havin' Fun, Doin' Good Award Mo Your Own Way Award Inspiration Award Team Movember Award

Marvellous Men DWAYNE “THE ROCK” JOHNSON AND HIS BATTLE WITH DEPRESSION Article written by Eben Clarke and James Clements

Born: May 2 1972 Place: California Famous for: WWF wrestler, Hollywood film actor in The Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King, Jumanji, producer, businessman, philanthropist Dwayne Johnson is an American-Canadian actor, producer, businessman, former American football player and former professional .

WWF wrestler. His films have grossed over $10.5 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 Time Magazine.

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 later crossed over into acting.

He has more recently spoken openly about his lifelong battle with depression and about never feeling “good enough”. He said ‘back then I didn't even know what depression was’ as men talking about their feelings was frowned upon back in the 80s and 90s.

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 they are not alone.”

Johnson is a huge supporter of various mental health charities and makes big donations to all sorts of good causes including children’s charities, homeless shelters, animal charities and youth schemes. He set up a foundation, The Rock Johnson Foundation, to help “empower and enrich the self-esteem of children with medical disabilities, illnesses and disorders”. He is quoted as saying “When I was 15 years old I heard a quote that stuck with me for life - it’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice”.

Marvellous Men

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN AND PHYSICAL HEALTH 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 wrote 722 pieces of music all together!

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 some of his life he was completely deaf.

He was also known for being rather serious quite often.

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”

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 majestic No.9 Symphony was being played, he turned around at the end of the piece thinking that nobody was applauding; he realised that they were, he just couldn’t hear it.

Beethoven died at the age of 56, on 26 March 1826. We think he died of 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 his deafness or his depression.

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.

Find out more about Beethoven and deafness Find out more about Beethoven's life and music

November 2022

Issue: 2

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