Group puts its hands up for mental health

A Bunbury organisation is pleased with the impact one of its programs is having on men living with mental health issues.

Community First’s 10-week Wellness for Men program has included activities such as bush walks, fishing, ten-pin bowling and Muay Thai boxing.

The idea is to engage men with activities to rebuild their confidence.

Community First project officer Stef Casadio said the program started with two clients and had now grown to 24 participants.

“We’ve found that it has been really successful and the men have grown in confidence as they learnt new social skills,” he said.

“It’s about healing the issues and taking part in activities like joining in at the OMAC Muay Thai Gym, bike riding and the Dolphin Discovery Centre boat rides.

“This program is the first time we’ve run something that reaches out to men only.”

Mr Casadio said his agency had seen a rise in the number of people living with mental health issues.

“It’s something that needs to be exposed and talked about,” he said.

“We’ve seen an increase because of divorce, trauma and separation.

“We want the men to step into a new life by learning new life skills.”

Community First mental health services manager Jerry Caruana said the organisation was looking at options for when the program finished tomorrow.

“At the moment we don’t have the funding to continue beyond the 10 weeks but we have a steering committee looking at the options,” he said.

“We want to continue to support people living with severe and persistent mental health issues.”