Boys In Mind

Boys in Mind is a youth-led strategy which aims to challenge negative stereotypes surrounding male mental health, promote positive images of boys and young men, and reduce suicide. We believe that nobody should feel ashamed of talking about their feelings and asking for help when they are struggling. We believe that by understanding and addressing the particular barriers boys and young men face and challenging unhelpful notions of what it means to be a man we can begin to improve male mental health and ultimately reduce male suicide rates. We work to enable boys and young men to- talk about problems when they arise and ask for help when it is needed - understand that others share similar challenges and feelings - care about themselves and others and be able to demonstrate this - show emotion in a healthy way and cry when they need to - explore and challenge unhelpful, inaccurate, and unhealthy stereotypes about what it means to be a man. We are a multi-agency alliance of professionals and young people across Bath & North East Somerset and beyond, including representatives from the Local Authority, Public Health, CAMHS, schools, voluntary agencies, parents & carers, fostering services, school nurses, and many others. One of our principles is to have men leading the strategy as they are hugely under-represented in the field of mental health and wellbeing. We want all boys and young men to have positive male role models who demonstrate the ability to be emotionally open and in-tune. We are currently working with 4 secondary schools and 10 primary schools in the Bath & North East Somerset area with focus groups of young people in each school driving the work and helping us evaluate change. We have made a number of award-winning short films to showcase our work and our values which are available for free on the Boys in Mind website.