WHEN it comes to looking after mind, body and soul, a Co Derry hurling club is preparing to tackle the important issue as the spotlight goes on men's health next week.
Men's Health Week (June 13-19) is organised by the Men's Health Forum and aims to help improve men's attitude to looking after their own physical and mental health – sooner rather than later.
The Kevin Lynch club in Dungiven will be asking its adult hurlers and members to take part in a Mindfit event organised by mental health charity Niamh.
It follows on the club – which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year – jointly hosting a health event with St Canice GAA last week which brought together local statutory organisations and physical and mental health charities to provide on-the-shot health checks and tests.
The event showed up some surprises, alerting several men that they had high blood pressure, which encouraged them take follow-up action.
Like any sporting club in the north, Kevin Lynch has experienced some incidence of health problems within the club. Some younger players have had to stop playing after discovering that they had heart problems.
And the club and wider GAA community were left reeling after referee Martin Mulholland from Maghera dropped dead on the pitch in a game Kevin Lynch had with Ballinscreen in 2011.
Club spokesman Brian McGuigan said: "We had a big day last week on health where we had cardiac screening, MoT health checks by the local doctor and chemists, and hearing loss tests. Niamh was one of the organisations represented.
"I definitely think as a club we are becoming more aware of the need for men to look after their mental and physical health. Our philosophy with all our exhibitors at our recent health day was that if we helped one person, then it was worthwhile.
"I think there's less stigma about talking about stress or depression with men and this has been helped with a few well-known players speaking about their problems."
The need to engage with men and boys to show them that it's important to look after their mental health as well as physical health is a real one.
In 2014 the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency recorded that over three quarters of those who died by suicide were men.
Geoff Scott from Niamh said: "Often men feel they have to be strong enough to struggle on with things on their own and are afraid of been seen as 'weak' if they admit they need help or support.
"Nothing could be further from the truth. For any man, having the wisdom to know when you need assistance with something is actually a sign of great strength and insight."
And the focus on looking after your mental health is not only on younger men.
The Hope Beacon Centre in Twinbrook in west Belfast is also holding a free Mindfit event at the centre on Monday June 13 aimed at men aged over 50, who they call the "forgotten men".
While the event is designed to be fun, it underlines a very serious need to look after their mind as well as the body.
According to centre manager Paul Crawford, it's important to help this particular age group as they are the men living in a mental health black spot; an unfortunate legacy of the Troubles.
"The older men of north and west Belfast are a 'forgotten group' living with the legacy of Northern Ireland's troubled past. Conflict-related trauma and marginalisation in their communities have contributed to this area being one of the worst areas for mental health in our local society."
