The Making Connections for Mental Health and Wellbeing initiative is designed to improve the mental health and wellbeing of men and boys in the U.S. This initiative, funded by the Movember Foundation, builds on a detailed landscape report, Making Connections for Mental Health and Wellbeing Among Men and Boys in the U.S.

A number of the resulting themes from the report have shaped the initiative, including:

  • The need to focus specifically on men and boys' mental health is emerging;
  • Too often, male socialization is at odds with mental wellbeing, isolating men from their families and discouraging expression of needs or emotions;
  • Population-level prevention strategies are not well developed despite the analysis that underlying community-level conditions are a part of the problem;
  • Prevention programs are effective but they are not at scale to maximize community-level impact;
  • Indigenous and lay people approaches are emerging that support healing and mental wellbeing; and
  • Resilience is a critical protective factor for mental wellbeing.

In its initial stages, the Making Connections initiative is focused on fostering a learning community among 16 coalitions across the U.S. Funded sites are developing and implementing actionable, community-level prevention plans to improve mental health, prioritizing those who have a particularly high need for community-level attention to mental wellbeing, such as military/veteran communities and families, and boys and men of color and their families. Equally, Making Connections is focused on advancing prevention approaches across the country, changing the discourse about the mental wellbeing of men and boys. Through rigorous evaluation and sharing of lessons learned along the way, this initiative will inform policymakers, funders, practitioners, and communities about the value of community-level approaches in support of improving mental health outcomes.

This initiative has been catalyzed by a generous investment from the Movember Foundation as part of its global commitment to improving mental health for boys and men. The Foundation is supporting Prevention Institute as its lead coordinating organization for its U.S. - based mental health work. 

Read the report in its entirety here. More PI strategies, tools and resources are available on our Promoting Mental Health & Well-Being page.