With special guest:
- Glen Poole
Every day in Australia five men die from suicide. While every single suicide is a tragedy, men account for 75% of all suicides in this country. How is it that while male suicide is increasing the numbers for women are improving? We need to investigate and see if this success can be replicated for men. Even a small improvement in the numbers has an enormous effect on the emotional cost and the financial cost to all of us.
The Stop Male Suicide project was founded only last month by our guest today, Glen Poole. Glen has long advocated for male suicide to be addressed as a national and international priority. He brings to this project a longstanding involvement in suicide prevention having championed the work of various suicide prevention initiatives in the UK, in particular the charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably).
The Stop Male Suicide project is on a mission to make it easier for everyone who cares about preventing male suicide to take action that makes a difference. The latest facts, theories and research are available on the Understanding Male Suicide page of the Stop Male Suicide website. In addition there will be a number of seminars presented in all capital cities around Australia in 2016 starting in Sydney on 24 May and finishing in Hobart on 7 December. Details are on their website.
Glen does not pretend to have all the answers to reducing the terrible toll of male suicide but wants to tap into the work that is being done already.
There are three key ways for everyone to be able to make a difference and these are:
Glen is a public speaker in high demand having presented at conferences such as the National Men’s Health Gatherings in 2013 and 2015. So a great start on making a difference is to listen to Glen in our program today.
Glen Poole
Glen Poole is Director of the consultancy Helping Men, the UK Coordinator of International Men’s Day and the author of Equality for Men. Glen is also the Editor with Dan Bell of insideMAN: Pioneering stories about men and boys.
Glen has recently relocated to Australia where he is well known in the Australian Men’s Health sector.
Song selection by our guest: Under Pressure by Queen (featuring David Bowie)
If this program has raised any concerns please contact:
Lifeline: 13 11 14
Crisis support chat
Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467
Online counselling
Men’s Line: 1300 78 99 78
Online counselling