Men urged to stop suffering in silence

Many men suffer in silence because they believe they have to face life’s challenges alone, mentor, life and business coach Sidney Boois says.

Boois made the remarks this week during a men’s mental health awareness event at Eros Primary School.

“Men must start to speak and then they must speak up and then they must speak out because speaking is the beginning of hearing,” Boois said.

He said talking is the first step towards protecting mental health and that good mental health is not about avoiding problems but about learning how to respond to them.

Boois encouraged men to support one another and pay attention when someone close to them appears to be struggling.

“We have to look out for each other, to see how we can help each other,” he said.

The call comes as Namibia continues to grapple with high suicide rates.

Last year, the Ministry of Health and Social Services and the World Health Organisation revealed that 1 474 Namibians died by suicide.

Soccer coach Costa Khaiseb says open conversations can help break the silence around mental health and encourage more people to seek support.

Hockey player Berthwell Sabisa says one of the biggest lessons he took from the event was that people should never feel they have to face difficult moments alone.

Single mother Annalize Tjipanga shares how a letter from her son to her changed the way she approached parenting. She says she realised her expectations had placed too much pressure on him.

“Between helping him with homework, driving him to school, soccer practices and making sure that he stayed on top of everything, I thought I was doing everything that every good mother should. I was placing tremendous pressure on him,” she says.

The post Men urged to stop suffering in silence appeared first on The Namibian.