June is Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month. In recent years, mental health concerns have increasingly come to the forefront, bringing awareness to a previously overlooked issue. Studies have revealed disparities in how mental health affects different genders.
A topic some say comes with a stigma, the conversation on mental health now taking a turn for men here in Chattanooga.
“I’ve had too many friends kill themselves, plain and simple,” says Mental Health Advocate, Brandon Clift. “As we start to look back, we can start to identify certain things, certain cries for help that weren’t clear.”
Brandon Clift said seemed fine on the outside, but as he looked deeper, it wasn’t that simple.
“I want those who know me to that if they’re ever starting to think that way, if they’re ever starting to feel that way, that I’m a phone call away, and that there are men who are waiting to support you,” says Clift.
It’s these signs and experiences that led Brandon here.
The Community Director for Men Who Chatt. A community of Chattanooga Brothers, Fathers, Husbands, Uncles, and Sons who help support one another to grow and discover healthier ways to show up responsibly as men to end male loneliness.
“Many boys are not raised with the tools to be able to have healthy conversations when it comes to their mental health, women do a much better job at these conversations and I think we as men and boys can really learn from them,” says Clift.
According to a report the CDC released in 2023, girls have been significantly more likely than boys to experience feelings of sadness or hopelessness, with 57% of girls reporting such feelings compared to 29% of boys in 2021. Additionally, girls are twice as likely as boys to consider or attempt suicide.
However, studies from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have found adolescent boys and grown men are nearly three to four times more likely than young girls or women to die by suicide. Despite this, males are diagnosed with depression and mood disorders at much lower rates
“Are you okay? It’s the simplest question, yet a lot of us aren’t asking it,” says Clift.
According to the anxiety and depression association of America Over 6 million men suffer from depression per year, but male depression often goes underdiagnosed.