Breaking the Stigma: Fostering Supportive Spaces for Men's Mental Health

It's no secret that men often struggle with expressing their emotions, but what if we could change that? With men's mental health being such a crucial topic, we're shining a light on the importance of creating safe spaces for men to open up and share their feelings. I'll be sharing my own journey, and how my supportive partner has made a world of difference in my mental well-being. But don't worry if you don't have that special someone, there's still hope to find that support within your community.

As we open up the conversation about men's mental health, we also tackle the responsibility of checking in on the men in our lives. It's essential to provide a supportive environment for our loved ones, and we hope our discussion inspires you to extend a hand to your brothers, fathers, and friends. So let's work together to break the stigma, and ensure everyone has a strong support system in their lives. Listen in and let's make a change for the better!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Passion, drive, persistence, resilience, love
all qualities that shape anddefine us.
Join the Cyber Warrior as hehelps shape your path.
This is Walk With Me.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome back to Walk With Me.
A Cyber Warrior Studiosproduction.
I'm your host on this journey,the Cyber Warrior.
Being that it's men's mentalhealth awareness month and I
didn't get to record an episodelast week, i wanted to touch on
it this week for this episode,because men's mental health is
something that isn't talkedabout enough.
I have seen sparks here orthere where it seems like it's

(00:52):
finally going to come to theforefront and we're finally
going to get over this hump ofsuck it up, of just deal with it
, of you know it'll be okay, manup things like that, but the
reality of the situation is, youknow, yes, men tend to approach
situations differently thanwomen.
Not all, that's more of ageneralization, but I'd say you

(01:15):
know it's a pretty good majorityAnd a lot of us have been
raised to just drive on.
If you're hurt, don't show it.
If you're feeling weak, don'tshow it.
If, mentally, you're frustrated, you're spent and you just
can't handle it, don't show it.
And it isn't until it's toolate that a lot of times people

(01:39):
finally find out, and it'salready too late by then.
So for this episode I reallywanted to concentrate on that
because I have been talking to alot of people and noticing a
lot of stressors in people'slives.
They don't feel loved or wanted, or don't know who to talk to,

(02:00):
when to talk to people, how totalk to people, things of that
nature.
Because we just aren't raisedthat way And I know times are
changing Things are a littledifferent.
I'm not trying to say don't bestrong.
I'm not trying to say you know,don't lose who you are, or to
lose who you are.
What I'm trying to say isthere's a time and a place And

(02:25):
for many, being able to talk tosomebody is something they're
not used to.
Being able to have someonethere and have someone that you
can just vent to, and withoutjudgment or reprisal or anything
like that, is not normal.
And so, you know, for me, ifind I got lucky.

(02:48):
I found my brothers in the armywho, yeah, we've got some dark
humor, we've got some jokes, butat the end of the day, you know
, there's a few that I can tellanything to, and some people
don't have that And it's sad tosee because, you know, even in
our communities, even, you know,in our little stubsets of

(03:10):
people we interact with on adaily basis, we find that we
can't always talk to them,because we're going to be judged
whether it's based on ourbeliefs or based on, you know,
the fact that we're weak.
And this at the third.
And it makes it very difficultAnd let me expand upon that even
just a little bit more becauselet's take my wife, for instance

(03:33):
.
So I love my wife, we have apartnership.
You know we talk about tellingeach other everything and not
hiding anything from each other.
When it comes to mental healthand how I'm feeling, i have a
hard time because I was raisedin a house where, you know, it's

(03:54):
not okay to show weakness.
You take care of your family,you provide, you're always there
, you're kind of the rock, andso for me it has been very
difficult to let go of that andto pull back the reins.
And so when I'm struggling, youknow my wife sees it and not
everybody has this.

(04:14):
Don't get me wrong.
I will admit to being verylucky in my life.
You know I work for everythingI have, but in the people I've
met, and you know my wifeespecially.
But when I talk to her, whenshe sees that I'm not,
something's not right, she'llask about it.
And now she doesn't dig inunless it progresses for a few

(04:36):
days, but she notices And so sheknows when something's not
wrong or not right.
And I'm very lucky in thatbecause I know with all of our
talks, with all of our ups anddowns or fights are good and bad
, she has not held any of thoseweaknesses against me, any of
those times that I broke down orfelt like a failure or anything

(04:59):
like that.
That has never been heldagainst me.
It's actually been the opposite.
He has been the one to lift meup and, you know, tell me I'm
worth it and things of thatnature, and I get it.
We don't all have that, butthis is where your brotherhood,
your brothers and sisters and,you know, the people in your
communities can really cometogether.

(05:20):
Because you know I'm like Isaid, i'm lucky.
I've got a few communities thatI'm a part of and we lift each
other up every day.
So you know, when it comes tomental health, and men's mental
health especially, there aresafe spaces out there for you.
There are places where you cango free of judgment and talk to

(05:43):
people and let people know howyou're feeling, why you're
feeling this way, andunderstanding that.
You know I get it.
There's not a lot of times.
It's not something that anybodycan fix, and you're not looking
for anybody to fix thesituation.
You just want to be able toshow weakness or apparent
weakness at a time in which youjust need to express yourself

(06:07):
and don't know how, and that'salright.
Another thing that I like totalk about and would like to
touch on with this is, you know,going to a gym or being
involved in some type oftaekwondo or martial arts or
boxing or something like that.
That allows you to kind of, youknow, really get into a
structure and a habit and eventake out some aggression here or

(06:28):
there in a safe and controlledway.
Meditation and really taking alook at yourself and being able
to sort through what emotionsyou can control, what situations
are in your life that you knowyou just got to kind of let go
and deal with.
And then what can be fixedbecause that's the other part of

(06:50):
it is, we can't fix everything,even in our own lives.
You know it's okay to talk to adoctor and a psychologist,
someone who really doesn't knowyou from Adam And yeah, some of
them suck, don't get me wrong,but you know I have found some
good ones that will talk to youand help you through things, and
so I think that is a huge partof it is, you know, being able

(07:13):
to talk to these people.
No, i get it.
It's not easy, as men and thingslike that, you know we find it
very, very difficult to open upto anybody, but it's a necessity
.
The suicide rate of men is waytoo high right now, of anybody
in general, but as far as youknow the actual rates of suicide

(07:37):
and successful suicides goingthrough with it, you know the
men's rate is way too high Andwe need to get it down to zero.
I'd love to get everybody'sdown to zero, but you know we
need to fix the problems withinus.
And so for for walk with me forthis week, i really want you

(08:00):
all to concentrate on findingyour communities and your people
that you can open up to.
Finding those How do I put this?
Or family members, or you know,religion or whatever it may be,
that you can open up to them.

(08:21):
Well, on the flip side of that,you know, call your brothers,
call your uncles, your fathers,your cousins, your, your buddies
, whatever the case may be,because you may have to cry, you
may have to dig in a little bitto figure out what's going on.
Meaning that you know I'm okaymeans you're not okay, i'm fine.

(08:45):
No, you're not.
You know I'm alive, i'm justgetting by and you're not really
okay.
You know things like this.
You have to really dig in andfind out if they're truly doing
good, or even, you know, in agood headspace, or if they're
suffering, if there's somethinggoing on internally that they

(09:07):
don't realize, or maybe they dorealize it and they don't want
to tell you right away.
So you have to ask And, in thatsame vein, understand that just
saying hello to somebody, justcalling and letting someone know
you care, will snap them out ofthat that mind frame, because
at that point in time they feellike nobody cares about them,

(09:28):
they feel like nobody's therefor them, nobody's going to help
them, and so just making thatphone call is good enough, not
all the time, but you know, agood bit of the time.
So you know, take a good, hardlook at your males that you know
in your life, the men in yourlife, take a good, hard, hard

(09:50):
look at them, because there willbe a lot of times, i guarantee
you that, if they feel they haveno purpose anymore, that you
know, all of a sudden, theirlife is hard to live and they
feel no need to continue living.
And you may not realize it.
Some of the happiest people, orsome of the people that seem

(10:13):
happiest, are sometimes in thedarkest of places.
Some of the ones that tell themost jokes.
You know, they seem likethey're in good spirits all the
time.
Isn't always true.
They're doing that to mask howthey really feel, and so you
have to look beyond the mask.
You have to be able to know theperson themselves.

(10:34):
So so, yeah, so, you know, ihope this week, you know, really
hits home for a lot of you,because I want you to start
checking in on your brothers, onyour uncles, your fathers, your
cousins, your battle buddies,whatever the case may be, and

(10:56):
really figure out if they'redoing okay, because without
everybody here, without you knowthese people in our lives, we
never know how things are goingto turn out.
So make sure you check on themNow look otherwise.
I know this has been a shorterepisode, but this is a topic

(11:17):
that I wanted to touch on andreally try to drive home the
point of checking in on.
You know the men in your life.
So this has been anotherepisode of Walk With Me and I
truly hope you got somethingfrom this and you know.
If you feel like it go ahead,drop a rating down below.
Check out the description, shownotes for all the ways you can

(11:39):
support the show and themultitude of shows I have, and
otherwise, look, i will catchyou all next week on another
episode of Walk With Me and Iwill see you guys next time.