1/2 On #FathersDay , it is also an important time to raise awareness for men's mental health. Men are 3x more likely to die of suicide, comprise over 73% of homeless shelter residents (2009 Canadian study), and make up 92% of workplace deaths (WSIB). Men need support, period.

2/2 They need more support not tied to conversations about women, more support not tied to "fixing" them or their "toxic masculinity", they need more support that is on their terms as a man and is respectful -- and not alienating -- of their definition of what it means to be men.

Men need male only spaces, men need to have their fraternal groups and clubs respected, and men need to be centred in conversations about mental health and support that are not tied to separate other conversations about harmful male behaviors or rape culture.

There is a time & place for those conversations, and that time and place is not when we should be encouraging men to seek help and support. Far too often, people use men's mental health week as an opportunity to get in thinly veiled jabs at men, or father's. All that does is

alienate the men in our life from feeling like they can reach out and be listened to. Whether you are a Dad struggling because you lost your job during COVID, whether you are a man going through a journey of your sexual orientation or gender identity, whether you are a man

experiencing domestic or sexual violence at the hands of a woman, a new father who is struggling alone with not yet bonding with your baby, men who are exiting the system and struggling to transition back into normal work & life, if you are a man who doesn't feel like you fit

into a box of "traditional masculinity", or a man who knows you do -- you are loved, you are deserving of support, you are important. Today is the last day of Men's Mental Health Week. If you have been thinking about making an appointment -- I promise, you have nothing to lose.