As a core strand of the DWF Global D&I Strategy, Mental Health and Wellbeing is incredibly important at DWF and for the D&I Employee Networks. Globally the rate of suicide for men is more than double that of women. In recognition of this fact the DWF Men at Work Group repurposed one of their monthly Men's Mental Health Listening Sessions to focus on suicide prevention.
The Men at Work Group is led by Jonathan Head (Director, Legal Services) and Dan Monaghan (Director of Clerking and Operations) and focuses on supporting men in the workplace with a particular focus on wellbeing and mental health.
Whilst DWF provides a suite of support to all colleagues around mental health and wellbeing, Jonathan and Dan wanted to create something specific to support men's mental health given the disproportionate representation of men within poor mental health and suicide statistics.
Their group and listening sessions have created a safe space in which men can discuss their challenges, share experiences and circulate advice and tips. Following a successful kick-off event for International Men's Day 2023, Jonathan and Dan now hold monthly listening sessions providing informal opportunities for attendees to share their experiences. Each session has a general theme to start the discussion such as bereavement and grief, stress, and work-life balance. This is then followed by contributions from members in which they have shared insight such as details of coping strategies.
For the session on 10th September Jonathan and Dan were join by Keith from The Samaritans. Keith gave a presentation providing advice on:
- Engaging in conversations about suicide
- Being a good listener
- Being patient
- Creating comfortable environments; and
- The importance of asking each other 'How are you really?' to prompt deeper conversations about wellbeing.
"We were delighted to welcome Keith from the Samaritans and it was refreshing to hear such thoughtful and plain advice from an expert in mental health. We had a great turnout to this session and good interaction from our group. We would encourage anyone interested in getting involved with the Samaritans to contact your local groups. If anyone is struggling, they can call the Samaritans on: 116 123".