Facts about blokes and mental health in Australia

One in 5 Australians aged between 16-85 experience a mental illness in any given year. The most common of these mental illnesses being:

• Depression

• Anxiety

• Substance Use Disorder

It is quite common for these mental illnesses to occur in combination. In fact, of the 20% of Australians living with a mental illness, 11.5% have one disorder, and 8.5% are living with two or more disorders.

Men are at the greatest risk of suicide, but sadly are the least likely to seek help.

6 men a day suicide in Australia.

There is no necessary common link – they live in the city and country, span various industries and age groups, and come for a variety of socio-economic backgrounds.

The one link they do share is that as men, they are the least likely to reach out for help. Despite campaigns aimed specifically at men’s mental health issues, seeking help from friends and family is still something that Australian blokes don’t do.

Suicide is the leading cause of death in Australian men aged 15-44 – this is more than double the national road toll.

So what can we all do to help?

We need to get blokes talking.

Mental health youth-focused mental health organisation Reach Out visited more than 300 schools across Australia to speak to youth on mental health and suicide. During this tour they noted something intriguing:

“If you had a man and a woman presenting, the numbers of young people putting up their hand to share their experiences would be three times more girls than boys. But when we had two men presenting, it was a 50-50 split.”

This demonstrates that men will often “adopt the behaviours of other men.”

In a country that still holds dominant ideas of what it means to be a ‘man’, it’s vitally important that we work together to break the stereotypes around blokes and get them talking.

If you are struggling, reach out. If you know or suspect you know someone who is struggling, reach out to them.

mate to mate – let’s get the conversations happening