This time last year, during Men’s Health Week (MHW), council-run Active Leeds launched a Men’s Health Network.
This MHW, we talk to Neil Jones, Health and Wellbeing Lead at Active Leeds, about what has been achieved in 12 months, and advice to other employers looking to set up Health and Wellbeing support specifically for male employees…
What led you personally to be interested in engaging men, in particular, in Health and Wellbeing?
I started in sport and physical health and wellbeing as a Community Sports Coach, working in the most disadvantaged areas of Bradford and Leeds. I quickly started to connect with men in communities and realised there were a lot of barriers and stigmas inhibiting people from pursuing healthy behaviours, like taking up exercise.
There were, and continue to be, a lot of unhealthy behaviours, and a lot of health inequalities around Health and access in the local area, which is very diverse with a vibrant mix of different cultures.
What have you learnt most about engaging men in Health and Wellbeing?
That camaraderie and connection go a long way.
- Find common ground, not middle ground. Common ground is things you have in common, like talking about football or rugby
- Do things shoulder to shoulder
- Recognise it may not always be about talking and speaking; let some activities spontaneously play out before you try and get too deep into conversation
- With men, you need to focus particularly on gaining and building trust, and social capital and collateral.
Can you develop that last point on social capital and collateral related to men?
Yes, collateral is about creating a relationship which isn’t merely transactional, but there is a connection there.
There might also be ‘incentives’, which could be even small things like getting refreshments at a meeting. It could be getting a brew, biscuit or even being given your own branded mug at a meeting. Small things can make a big difference.
What was the inspiration for the Men’s Health Network you’ve created at Active Leeds?
We lost a member of staff far too early from cancer and we knew we needed to do something around encouraging men to have difficult conversations.
There is still stigma around asking for help and we didn’t have anything specific in place. Yes, we had Mental Health First Aiders and Health and Wellbeing Champions, but that solution wouldn’t have helped the colleagues we lost too early.
So what did you do?
Active Leeds is made up of 16 leisure centres which are open from 4am to 11pm, which involves lots of shift work, disrupted sleep and lots of different roles, from grounds people to personal trainers to management.
Being a leisure organisation, there was this assumption that ‘everyone’ is healthy and looks after themselves. But that’s not actually true. Not everyone’s background is rooted in exercise and health.
So we wanted to create a programme that would help support men to live healthier lives mentally and physically. I heard Emily Pearson [Founder of Wellbeing Lead Academy and developer of the Manbassador Programme] talk at a conference and was really intrigued by the Manbassador programme and using it as a blueprint.
We brought Emily on board, which was fantastic, as she helped us stick to tight timelines, managed the project and created a sense of self-belief in our team.
What does the Manbassador programme comprise?
It’s focused around our 10 ‘Manbassadors’ who are a diverse group of volunteers – old, young and from all different ethnic backgrounds – who represent our employee base. The programme is a listening and signposting service, and Manbassadors receive training to do this – it’s not designed to have Manbassadors support individuals on a longterm basis.
And you launched a year ago – in Men’s Health Week – is that right?
Yes. We got Olympian Alex Brownlee, boxer Josh Warrington and rugby league player Jamie Jones-Buchanan to front the launch. This was the hook to get men to come. And, to be honest, I think half of them were there to meet the sporting icons rather than hear about the programme, but we got 200 men into the room!
How do you communicate about the programme to your male employees?
We have information on our internal website. This introduces our ten Manbassadors and gives background on the lived experience they each have and the training they’ve received. Different Manbassadors have different training with someone specialised in, for example, drug addiction, suicide or trauma.
What would be your biggest bit of advice to other employers looking to set up a Men’s Health Network?
To ensure you have robust research and evaluation behind it. Don’t just charge on with the project without data. This was always something Emily stressed to us.
What data did you gather?
We gathered data before launch to find out what was already going on.
Then when the project launched we gathered data from the start. Every time a Manbassador had a consultation with someone they would fill out a very simple, anonymised, online form with ten questions.
Off the back of that, after a few months, we were able to look at trends. We were also able to link this data with sickness data and data about our male employees with longterm health conditions, or at risk of going off sick.
This enabled us to pivot the project and move forward depending on our needs. For instance, when we spotted specific areas of health that were an issue, we were able to send some Manbassadors on specific training, run workshops and ensure we had good signposting for individuals needing support.
What were the obvious trends you expected?
Complaints about musculoskeletal health, bad backs and shoulders particularly, and mental health. Other issues that come up quite a bit are financial stress, the cost of living crisis and addiction.
Did any data surprise you about men’s health?
Yes. There were a couple of curveballs we weren’t expecting.
Gambling, for one. I’m not a gambler or a gamer, so I was surprised at what a big issue it is, particularly for the under 25s age group. Gambling games can easily be played without others knowing at work and losing money affects performance at work, and wellbeing, because this creates huge stress.
Then also the menopause. We got a lot of feedback from men in partnerships with women going through peri or menopause, about the anxiety and stress of either supporting her through this, or things happening as a result of it.
Do you think, as others are saying, that there’s a ‘crisis of masculinity’ going on in society?
These are tricky times for everyone. There are wars. A cost of living crisis. Struggles for many to put food on the table and pay bills.
In this area in particular, Leeds, there’s been rapid growth and change but, actually, many areas are suffering from deep inequality, economic and health related. Things have got harder than when I started working here 17 years ago which explains why, now, the food banks are full to bursting.
I think what is tricky in particular for men is the historical role of the man has been the ‘provider’ so what I observe a lot is men saying ‘I’ve got a bad back [or another health issue] but I can’t be off sick, because I won’t get paid’. Men tend to deprioritise health to make ends meet.
Presumably this data collection helped with buy-in to senior management to argue this work aimed at men is worth the investment?
Yes, especially as times are hard and budgets are tight. Luckily, we are part of something called the Be Well Group, which covers the whole council, so we accessed funding from there by arguing the business case that this was investing to save and delivering cost savings in the longterm. This has definitely been the case which we’ve been able to prove, particularly as we’re not talking large amounts of money.
What are you doing for Men’s Health Week this year?
Alot! We have roundtables going on around topics like how to remove stigma around seeking help. We also have numerous activities going on like paddle tennis, archery, table tennis, rock climbing, walking and online workshops.
One of the things I’m most looking forward to is that three of our employees are sharing their stories with the rest of the service, which is brilliant as role models are so important. I think that’ll be emotional and we’ll see some male tears.
What’s the future for your Men’s Health Network?
Well, given we’ve been able to prove the ROI within Active Leeds, the council is now looking at how it could implement something similar in other parts of the organisation. For instance, areas which have high male employee bases coupled with high sickness levels, like people working in building services, those collecting bins and sweeping streets, fixing council houses, etc.
I’ve also been invited to dinner at the House of Lords in July to share our experiences and have conversations with other partners, stakeholders and politicians about men’s health – so who knows what ideas will come out of shared insights there…
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