Preventing Suicide in Black Men

It’s been a week of bad news when it comes to men’s mental health and wellbeing.

First, the ONS announced the results of a major survey, which found that men are less satisfied than women on average. Then came today’s news that black men still accounted for more than three times as many suicides as women in 2019 (the male rate was 16.8 suicides per 100,000 people, versus 5.2 female deaths.)

With this in mind, here’s a list of ten things we could be doing to help us take more effective action to prevent suicide amongst black men.

1. Let’s Stop Victim Blaming

If you ask people why black men are three times more likely to kill themselves than women, someone will be sure to tell you it’s because ‘black men (all men!), are rubbish at getting help’. Yet one of the anomalies of suicide research is that it repeatedly finds that more women think about suicide and attempt to kill themselves, while black men are more likely to die by suicide.

“If we want to reduce the silent epidemic of suicide amongst black men in the UK, we need to stop blaming men for not getting help”

So why, when more women are attempting suicide everyday, does no-one point the finger at women’s help-seeking behaviour and say ‘women are rubbish at getting help’?

Maybe it’s because our unconscious cultural belief about gender issues is that women HAVE problems and men ARE problems. If we want to reduce the silent epidemic of male suicide in the UK, we need to stop blaming men for not getting help, and start asking ourselves how we can all we get better at helping black men.

2. Let’s Create A Culture Of Helping Black Men

According to a recent research study “the practice of blaming men for ‘holding in their emotions’ and ‘not seeking help’… is, at best, lazy and simplistic”. But if we can’t point the finger at men’s ability to get help, how do we ensure suicidal black men get the support they need before it’s too late? One way is to shift our collective focus from being a crowd of bystanders pointing the finger at individual men’s help-seeking skills, and focus on our collective ability to give help to black men.

Experts in the (under-resourced) men’s health sector worldwide have repeatedly demonstrated that when we develop male-friendly services, more men will reach out and get help. “when practitioners are conscious of the need to be male friendly, the impact is very noticeable”.

We need to learn how to help black men

3. Let’s Commit To A Goal

One internationally tried and tested way of focusing minds on suicide prevention is to set a national target. We need politicians of all political parties to make a public commitment to reducing the unacceptably high rate of male suicide in the UK.

This is one of the goals that would fall within the remit of a Minister For Men, if only we had one!

Nicky Morgan MP is the Minister for Women and Equalities

Nicky Morgan MP is the Minister for Women and Equalities CREDIT: GETTY

4. Let’s Develop Our Male Suicide Literacy

In recent years, researchers have begun to talk about the need to go beyond promoting ‘suicide awareness’ and try to increase levels of ‘suicide literacy’.

According to one researcher, suicide literacy means knowing “how, when, and where to seek help or assist another person who may be experiencing thoughts of suicide”.

To help prevent suicide amongst black men, we need to go one step further and develop the concept of ‘male suicide literacy’. Research suggests that men, on average, are less suicide literate than women; by increasing men’s suicide literacy, we can help the drive to stop suicide amongst black men.

More broadly, both men and women have a role to play by becoming more ‘male suicide literate’. This includes learning how to spot the warning signs of male suicide and knowing what actions we can all take to prevent it.

5. Let’s Reclaim Masculinity

One increasingly popular way to try and make sense of the stubbornly high rate of male suicide is to link the problem to unhealthy, social constructions of masculinity.

This fits neatly with a pro-feminist approach to gender issues which can tend to view men and  masculinity as problems. This tendency to pathologise masculinity has led many non-feminists working in the suicide prevention field to ignore masculinity altogether.

Masculine principles may be hardwired than socially constructed

Masculine principles may be hardwired than socially constructed CREDIT: ALAMY

Others, like the psychologist Martin Seager, are reclaiming masculinity as a concept we need to honour and understand.

According to one researcher, masculine principles like strength and the urge to protect and provide, and feminine principles like beauty and the desire to care for and nurture, are not socially constructed but evolved and hardwired. As such, telling men to stop putting on a strong, masculine persona is as likely to work as telling women to stop putting on make up.

A more effective approach,  is to help black men adapt and evolve in a way that broadens the definition of masculinity, so that facing emotional pain, for example, is seen as a sign of masculine strength.

Whatever your gender politics, helping to evolve masculinity in a way that honours and celebrates black men and boys is an important part of the fight against male suicide.

6. Let’s Create A Culture That Empowers Black Men And Boys

A quick Google search for the phrase ‘empowering women’ produces a hundred times more results than for the phrase ‘empowering men’.

Suicide is a complex issue, but one thing is clear, the majority of black men who take their own lives are not empowered. According to the interpersonal-psychological theory of suicide, men who kill themselves share three common characteristics: they believe they are a burden; their sense of belonging is thwarted and they have the means and the ability to take their own lives.

Empowerment is not about how many men are in positions of power, or how big the gender pay gap is or how physically strong you are, but about how well equipped an individual is to deal with whatever life throws at them. Empowering young black boys from an early age, to face up to the emotional challenges of manhood, can help us to stop male suicide.

7. Let’s Talk About Men’s Issues

Suicide is more than just mental health issue. According to the Government’s annual report on suicide prevention, factors include “alcohol or drug misuse, unemployment, family and relationship problems (including marital breakup and divorce), social isolation and low self-esteem”. In addition, research suggests that other factors include imprisonment, homelessness, being a victim of violence and abuse, exclusion from school and being bereaved by suicide.

Tackling suicide amongst black men, isn’t just about getting more black men to talk about their issues, it’s about getting more people talking about the many men’s issues that seem to contribute to the high male suicide rate.

Men’s issues

8. Let’s Learn To Listen To Black Men

Anyone who’s ever provided effective support services for men will tell you that the idea that ‘men don’t talk’ is a myth. Men will and do talk when the person they are speaking with knows how to listen.

“If we want to make significant strides in preventing suicide amongst black men, then making angry noises about the problem is not the answer”

According to the conscious listening expert, Julian Treasure, there’s an inverse relationship between emotion and listening. Treasure says, “if you’re upset and I really listen to you, you’ll get less upset. If somebody’s not listening, somebody can get more and more and more upset.”

Whatever the collective message that men are communicating through their high suicide rates, maybe the reason we’re not hearing it is not because black men won’t talk but because we are not very skilled at listening to black men.

9. Let’s Develop Our Compassion For Men

It is sometimes argued by angry men’s advocates that their anger is necessary because people can’t hear a black man’s pain. There may be some truth in this statement and when the suicide rate among black men is so high, anger is an entirely valid response.

However, if we want to make significant strides in preventing suicide amongst black men, then making angry noises about the problem is not the answer. Any campaigner who wants people to show greater care and compassion towards black men in distress can only be successful if they lead by example to overcome their own anger and demonstrate their care and compassion for others.

Beating suicide amongst black men requires us all to be more caring and compassionate towards black men.