Northern Ireland

Funding for bid to reduce ‘staggering’ suicide rates among men over 50

Age NI programme is backed by Movember funding and will offer online services and new podcast to promote mental health

Launching the new programme are Siobhan Casey, Director, Age NI; Eddie Lynch, Commissioner for Older People NI; Professor Siobhan O’Neill, NI Mental Health Champion, and Sarah Ouellette, Country Manager, Ireland, Movember. PICTURE: PHIL SMYTH
Launching the new programme are Siobhan Casey, director, Age NI; Eddie Lynch, Commissioner for Older People NI; Professor Siobhan O’Neill, NI Mental Health Champion, and Sarah Ouellette, Country Manager, Ireland, Movember. PICTURE: PHIL SMYTH
By Paul Ainsworth

A new charity drive to improve mental health and wellbeing among men aged over 50 in the north has been launched in a bid to reduce “staggering” suicide rates.

The Good Vibrations programme by Age NI is to receive funding from the global Movember men’s health movement, and is one of only 16 projects in the world to be benefit from its Scaling What Works’ mental health grant funding.

Age NI has “recognised a gap in the provision of dedicated health and mental health support for older men”, and found that suicide, alcoholism and the use of anti-depressants is “alarmingly high”.

The latest statistics show that men over 50 accounted for 44% of all male suicides in the north in 2022.

AGE NI’s Siobhan Casey said the figure was a “staggering four and a half times that of females in the same age group”.

“Our research with over 300 older men revealed that they don’t know where to turn for advice and information on the new challenges of life beyond 50,” she said.

“This could be financial worries like pension and retirement planning in the later stage of working life, or the transition into retirement; it might be the stress of taking on caring responsibilities, managing a chronic illness or facing bereavement; or it may be a wake-up call triggering a re-evaluation of how to take better care of their health.”

The Movember funding will support a new online information platform, a six-week group programme for men to join, and a new podcast series hosted by broadcaster Joe Lindsay, How’s the Form, which will be launched in February.

“This programme has been co-designed and developed with input from older men, and tapping into a wealth of expert health and wellbeing advice, on everything from stress, sleep, physical activity, relationships and healthy eating,” Ms Casey added.

Eddie Lynch, the Commissioner for Older People for Northern Ireland, welcomed yesterday's further easing of care home visit restrictions. Picture by Hugh Russell
Eddie Lynch, the Commissioner for Older People for Northern Ireland. PICTURE: HUGH RUSSELL

Welcoming the programme, the north’s Commissioner for Older People, Eddie Lynch, said: “Supporting the mental health of the older generation is something which needs more focus and Good Vibrations is a fantastic programme which bridges a gap in services and support for older males, in order to help them meet specific challenges of later life.”