Championing the value of mateship for International Men's Day
The importance and value of Mateship is the theme chosen by the Australian Men’s Health Forum to celebrate International Men’s Day 2022.
More than 150 events across Australia have been listed on the International Men’s Day website (hosted by AMHF) encouraging blokes to show up and spend a few hours with their mates, and to make a few new friends along the way.
Why? Quite simply, having mates helps men lead longer, happier lives.
The new Know Your Man Facts presentation ‘10 Facts Everyone Should Know About Mateship + Men’s Health’ explains exactly why this is the case and highlights some important facts about mateship.
For example, 1 in 4 men have no-one outside of their immediate family they can rely on and 1 in 3 experience periods of loneliness. Most men say they have lost contact with more men than they would like and 1 in 10 men over 45 live alone.
Those who are at greater risk of having no mates are men in mid-life, older men, unemployed men, men living alone, separated dads and single dads.
The Know Your Man Facts presentation outlines key health risks to men when they have limited social connection and how mateship can help prevent serious health conditions such as heart disease, obesity, depression, anxiety, drug and alcohol abuse and suicidal thinking.
In fact, having no mates can be as bad for our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
The presentation – available for anyone who has an interest in men’s health and looking for material that will help give a talk at work, in a community setting, or at any gathering where men are the target audience – encourages participants to talk about their own friendship circles and where they fall on the ‘Mateship Pyramid’.
Sprinkled with interactive quizzes, the Know Your Man Facts Mateship presentation invites men to consider how they might make their social networks stronger through building stronger bonds with existing mates, staying in contact with old mates, and putting themselves out there to meet new mates.
It concludes with the important reminder of helping a mate who is doing it tough and provides an ABC guide of what to do if they think a mate is struggling.
Ten Facts Everyone Should Know About Mateship + Men’s Health is the latest Know Your Man Facts presentation, developed for International Men’s Day, but relevant and available year-round for men’s health champions to use.
It includes 10 Know Your Man Facts on the topic, an infographic and full speaker notes contained within the presentation.
Know Your Man Facts toolkits are also available on the following themes:
Talking About Men’s Health
Men’s Heart Health
Men’s Mental Health
Register to receive a Know Your Man Facts toolkit