5 Ways to Make a Difference During Men's Mental Health Awareness Month
5 Ways to Make a Difference During Men's Mental Health Awareness Month
Most of us know June as graduation season or the start of summer. Fewer realize it's also Men's Mental Health Awareness Month.
Men make up close to 80% of suicide deaths in the U.S. Of those men, 60% had no documented mental health condition on record before they died. The National Institute of Mental Health puts the 2023 male suicide rate at nearly four times the rate for women. The suicide rate for older men (75+) is the highest, at 40.7 per 100,000, well above the national average.
At Pacific Coast Psychology, we work inside California's nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities, which means we sit across from those older men a lot. We hear what they don't say out loud, and we see how the silence around men's mental health doesn't end at 65.
Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month gives us a reason to push back on that silence. Here are five things you can do in June — and every month after.
1. Have the conversation you've been putting off
You probably already know which man in your life you've been worried about. The brother-in-law who's gotten quieter. The father who's stopped calling. The grandfather in long-term care who used to laugh more.
Start there. "How are you actually doing?" works. So does "You've seemed off. What's going on?" Most men are just waiting to be asked.
The Women's Center reports that of the more than 6 million men in the U.S. who experience depression each year, 49% "felt more depressed than they admitted to the people in their lives." Almost half were already hiding it from someone who cared enough to be told. Asking once, and then asking again a week later, is one of the most underrated mental health interventions there is.
2. Learn what depression actually looks like in men
In men, the signs often present differently from what you typically picture depression as. Rather than just isolation and tears, symptoms include:
- Disrupted sleep patterns
- Irritability or a shortened temper
- Persistent fatigue that rest does not resolve
- Loss of interest in activities or hobbies
- Unexplained physical pain
- Increased alcohol consumption or other substance use
Understanding the signs of depression matters acutely for older men. Depression in nursing facilities is often the root of resident complaints about back pain, not being hungry, or sleeping through the afternoon. Staff and visiting family members understandably chalk it up to aging or to a medical condition. It usually isn't only that.
Knowing the actual signs and trusting your instinct when something feels off about a man in your life is one of the most practical skills you can build this month.
3. Show up for the men that no one else is showing up for
Loneliness is no longer just a feeling. It's increasingly being treated as a clinical risk factor. A 2022 systematic review in The Journal of the American Medical Directors Association found that loneliness among older adults in congregate long-term care settings is linked to depression, suicidal ideation, and frailty, and called it one of the "geriatric giants" that the healthcare system needs to take seriously.
Visit your loved one. Schedule regular phone calls. A fifteen-minute drop-in from an adult grandchild can significantly brighten a resident's whole week.
If you have a male relative, family friend, or neighbor in a nursing facility, June is a good month to start recurring visits. Bring coffee. Or just bring yourself. If you don't know someone in a facility, ask a local nursing home or senior center whether any residents could use a visitor.
4. Reframe asking for help as a sign of strength, not weakness
The stigma around mental health in men gets drilled into them when they are young. It's common for young boys to hear things like "Man up." "Suck it up." “Real men don’t cry.” Especially with men who were never told it was okay to have feelings in the first place.
You can interrupt that pattern subtly. When a man in your life mentions he's seeing a therapist, treat it with the same casual, positive tone you would use if he mentioned seeing a physical therapist for a sports injury. A simple, "That's awesome, man. Good for you," goes a long way. As Calm points out, the whole purpose of Men's Mental Health Month is to remind men that asking for help is a courageous act.
5. Advocate for accessible, embedded mental health care
Awareness is the easy part. Access is the hard part.
Getting professional support requires dealing with long waitlists, extensive intake paperwork, and a healthcare system that historically overlooked specific barriers to men's mental health. These challenges often discourage individuals from seeking care.
Medical providers must restructure these entry points to prioritize immediate, low-barrier entry. The non-profit HeadsUpGuys reports that in the year before suicide, only 35% of men on average had sought care from a mental health practitioner.
For older men in skilled nursing and long-term care, mental health services are often missing from facilities entirely or treated as a secondary concern after acute medical needs. At Pacific Coast Psychology, our goal is to close that gap, bringing licensed psychologists directly into California nursing homes and SNFs, so that residents can receive direct access to real, ongoing mental health care.
Making Mental Health Advocacy a Year-Round Commitment
Men's Mental Health Awareness Month ends on June 30th. Whatever you choose to do this June — the conversation, the nursing home visit, the phone call to your dad — keep doing it in July. And August. And every month after. Awareness is only useful when it turns into habit.
If you are a facility administrator or referring provider, you can contact us to learn more about our on-site mental health services for nursing homes and SNFs in California.
If you or someone you love is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
