GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Brown County therapists say men’s mental health doesn’t get the attention it needs in Northeast Wisconsin.
A new awareness campaign hopes to change that by meeting men where they are.
Kenneth Sann, a mental health therapist at Foundations Health and Wholeness, says mental health can affect the people you might not expect.
“I’ve had men say, ’I’ve hung out with this guy for 12 years, we went fishing every day. I never knew that he was struggling with depression,’” said Sann.
He is also one of the therapists behind the “Man Brain” campaign.
He hopes it gets men talking about mental health.
“It’s alright for men to say, ‘yeah, I need to talk to someone’ or ‘I need some help,’” he said.
Sann sees people who have already realized they are struggling with mental health.
“Man Brain” is meant to help people before they need therapy.
“I had a guy once tell me, ‘I would feel much better having a beer with somebody, with a friend at a bar than go to a therapy session,’” Sann recalled.
“If it saves one person, then it’s done its job,” said Don Mjelde, president of Brown County’s Tavern League.
If you walk into a Tavern League bar, you might see posters and coasters supporting the campaign.
“I want them to have a discussion and be able to talk about it,” Mjelde said. “This is something that’s real in our community and something that should be addressed.”
Foundations Health and Wholeness outpatient counseling director Julie Feld tracks suicides in the community.
“We know that as of July first, we’ve had 19 completed suicides in Brown county,” Feld states.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says suicide is the 9th leading cause of death in Wisconsin.
The most recent data shows 926 people died from suicide in 2017.
That’s up from 769 in 2014.
But those numbers include everyone, not just men.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention says white men accounted for just under 70% of suicide deaths in 2017.
The organization says that was 3.54 times more often than suicide deaths of women that year.
“We know that men commit suicide at a higher rate than the general population,” Feld said.
That’s why Feld says they want to get the word out: to prevent what they can and provide counseling outside of their facility.
As part of the campaign, Foundations is holding sessions at its Green Bay location.
