Team TDDCC’s aim is to provide support, for the public benefit, specifically targeting any adult males in the UK going through bereavement, where we will design our services to break down the barriers that prevent men from accessing mental health support.
Research shows that after a loss, men experience greater changes in their mood than women do and experience more consequences for their physical health. A 2001 paper published in The Review of General Psychology discovered that widowers have a higher incidence of mental and physical illness, disabilities, death and suicide than widows do.
Grief should be seen as a normal and healthy response by all men, but cultural and societal stereotypes have had the opposite effect. Much research has shown that men will turn to other vices to evade the pain and Team TDDCC want to eliminate the stigma men face when bereaved by normalising, being able to discuss the issue without fear of shame or emasculation. This will reduce the damaging long-term impacts dealing with grief alone can have on both the individual, their families, friends and wider society.
The services will provide multiple routes of access to support which will include –
- Information available on our website or leaflets
- Telephone and texting services
- Online message forums and chatrooms
- Support groups
- Access to Counsellors or Befrienders
By offering a range of access points to our services, particularly those that do not rely on being face to face, or that help to put people in touch with others who share their experiences in a virtual forum, we can encourage and increase the number of males breaking down the barriers and seeking help.
Our key message is that it is good for all males to talk, but they must be given the correct platform to make themselves heard. Team TDDCC is seeking to provide those platforms.