Men’s Peer Support

a space for men

Men—particularly trans and BIPOC men—face unique stressors in Canada. Many feel pressure to “perform masculinity” by hiding their emotions (except anger), denying their needs, and seeking stress relief in risky or harmful ways. The strain of such a performance over time may be a factor in why so many men avoid getting the mental health support they need, and why men tend to be at higher risk for substance use behaviours and suicide. To make matters more challenging, many men feel particularly vulnerable to the stigma of talking to a therapist or counsellor. Peer support may offer such men an exciting alternative.

ANOTHER PATH TO MENTAL HEALTH RECOVERY

Peer support for men offers an alternative means of recovery for those looking to try something different from—or in addition to—counselling or psychotherapy. Rather than primarily treating the symptoms of a mental health disorder like anxiety or depression, your peer support worker will engage you in identifying your hopes and priorities in life, help you figure out what’s needed to help realize them, and connect with you as you walk the path. Your path may include reducing your symptoms, but it also may not.

Company, but with lived experience

As a requirement, peer support workers have experience living with a mental health challenge. This enables your peer to better understand your relationship with your mental health, and connect with you in ways that others may not be able to. Although your peer support worker may not have the same diagnosis as you, or the same experiences with the mental health system(s), there can be a kind of magic in connecting with someone who just “gets it” both in terms of what it’s like to live as a man with a mental health challenge, and to seek support in a system that doesn’t always meet its aim of helping others. Peer support workers use the unique and specialized learnings from their own journeys to empathize with you and hold space for you as you unlock what is meaningful to yours.