MENtality – Colaiste Abbain, Adamstown

Why as a team did you choose to focus on this challenge?

We decided to choose to focus on the challenge of mental health because we feel like mental health in general is a very prominent issue in our society but men's mental health is extremely significant because men find it much harder to open up than women due to societal standards. There is a big stigma, specifically in Ireland, that men are always "grand", even when they are not, and due to this men feel they are not able to open up about their feelings. This is what we want to change.

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What do you know now about the challenge that you didn't know before?

From our research, we discovered that the statistics surrounding men's mental health are much higher and scarier than we thought. Less than 20% of men over the age of 18, who are experiencing mental health difficulties will seek help from a mental health professional. These statistics really surprised us. Most emphasis on men's mental health is on men's mental health week or Movember in the month of November, we want this emphasis all year round, mental health has no time frame.

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What have you learnt about your Hero?

Our hero is Jim Carrey. Jim Carrey is known as a very happy-go-lucky, funny, positive person, many people do not know that while Carrey was presenting himself as a carefree funnyman, he was living with depression. Carrey announced he is retiring from social media. Jim Carrey spoke about discovering his spirituality more which has helped him combat his mental health struggles. Jim Carrey is a great example of how people can wear a mask and not be as happy as they seem.

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If you could improve one thing for your Hero what would that be?

I would get Jim Carrey to speak to a professional about his struggles, although he may have by now I am not fully aware. Speaking to somebody when something is bothering you is such an important thing to do in order to get on the right track.

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Do you have any ideas for a potential solution? No matter how raw, share them with your Mentors for feedback.

We would like to start social medias or put positive affirmations around our school, our main goal is to let men know it's okay not to be okay and that they are able to speak up and ask for help. We also want men to know that if they do ask for help there are people there to support them. We are very interested in film etc. and would like to make a video around our school talking about men's mental health, we might add in a docuMENtary vibe by interviewing boys and men in our school.

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Ask your Mentor anything …. This is a chance to ask your Mentors a direct question relating to your Big Idea.

Mentors what do you think of our idea of a docuMENtary ?