Highlights

• Despite comprising almost half of the population, men bear the weight of a staggering 80% of suicides in the US, highlighting a deep-rooted mental health crisis.
• Sean Hayden, a veteran actor and CEO, shares his transformative mental health journey and his determination to be a voice for men's mental well-being.
• Traditional masculinity norms impose immense societal pressure on men, discouraging emotional expression and reinforcing the harmful notion that seeking help is a sign of weakness.
• By challenging these outdated norms, we can create an environment where men feel empowered to acknowledge their emotions, seek support, and break free from the shackles of stigma.

Despite making up 49% of the population, men account for nearly 80% of all suicides in the United States. Every 13.7 minutes, a man takes his own life, according to Canada's Centre for Suicide Prevention. Depression and anxiety are present in at least 50% of these cases. The stigma surrounding men and mental health creates significant barriers to seeking help. Societal and self-stigmas often prevent men from speaking up or seeking treatment, leading to tragic consequences.
 

Veteran actor Sean Hayden had firsthand experience with this crisis. Sean is the CEO of Haywood Productions and a veteran actor of two Broadway national tours and theatre productions on stages across the U.S. His personal mental health podcast story, Stage Combat: A Mental Health Story, is available free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. In 2019, Sean collapsed on stage due to a panic attack, forcing him to confront his mental health journey. This traumatic experience in the workplace made Sean realize the urgency of advocating for men's mental health in all sectors of life. In an exclusive interview with HR.com, Sean shares his personal journey with mental health crises and how he became an advocate for men's mental health.

Excerpts from the interview:

Q. How can anyone, regardless of gender or profession, become an advocate for mental health, and where can they start their journey for help and support?

Sean: We can all advocate for mental health by telling our stories. One of the psychologists featured in our podcast series, Stage Combat: A Mental Health Story says that each time we tell our stories, we are taking a brick out of the wall of stigma.

I created Stage Combat: A Mental Health Story to tell my story because many people said to me after my mental health crisis, “I didn’t think this would happen to someone like you.” In my podcast, I dramatize, moment to moment, how my crisis happened. So people could say after listening, “Oh, a mental health crisis could happen to anyone.”

Now, you don’t have to produce a two-season, twenty-episode podcast series like I did to tell your story. Simply sharing what you’ve been going through over coffee or dinner can go a long way for yourself and someone else. You never know: you might open the door for the listener also to share a story they desperately want to be heard.

And supporting those around us who are in crisis is an important way to be an advocate for mental health. Another psychologist on the podcast told me that a common response to seeing someone else’s mental health crisis is to ignore it.  Otherwise, it opens up the possibility to the person observing the crisis that it could happen to them.

That brings us back full circle to telling our stories. The more we tell our stories, the more we are cognizant of the possibility that a mental health crisis could happen to any of us. And the more likely we will support others who are struggling.

For help and support, it is important to be open to seeking the help of a mental health professional to create a mental health treatment plan that is right for you. If you need guidance, consider reaching out to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) for information, resource referrals, and support by calling the helpline at 1-800-950-6264 or by text to 62640. Anyone in crisis or contemplating self-harm should contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing or texting 988.

Q. What impact does societal pressure to conform to traditional masculinity norms have on men's mental health, and how can these norms be challenged?

Sean: Most boys and men in all cultures have grown up hearing some variation of the phrases “Man Up,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” and “Suck it Up.” This is the culture of toxic masculinity. These traditional masculinity norms constantly tell boys and men that they are not supposed to acknowledge their emotions. And if they do feel those emotions, find themselves in crisis or seek help, they will be publicly shamed.

Those same cultural barriers continue as men enter the workplace. Explicit and implicit messages are conveyed to men that if they are having mental health struggles, they are “weak.” They are not a good candidate for advancement within the workplace. So men are forced to hide and deny what they are going through.

We have to challenge these outdated norms. We need to normalize the conversation about mental health regarding men to reduce the stigma associated with mental health struggles. Men will then feel empowered to acknowledge their emotions and to seek help if they need it.   

Q. Can you share with us some of the challenges you faced during your mental health journey, and how did you overcome them?

Sean: Once I collapsed in my workplace, I was constantly fearful of collapsing again and was constantly short of breath and dizzy. Thereafter, I was diagnosed with a panic and anxiety disorder, which I didn’t have before I entered my workplace.

Once I left that job (and the podcast tells the intriguing story of how that happened), I faced a three-and-a-half-year mental health journey that took a team of medical professionals. I was no longer the same person that I was before I entered my former workplace. My panic and anxiety symptoms kept multiplying and mutating. Key to my recovery was very intense cognitive therapy. But the real turnaround for me was making the podcast. In dramatizing what happened to me, moment to moment, I more or less “recreated the crime scene.” And I believe that was significant to releasing the power of my trauma and looking to my future.

Q. What steps do you think need to be taken to improve access to mental health resources and support for men in all sectors of society?

Sean: Again, I believe that normalization is key. That means speaking openly and often about mental health in our everyday conversations and our workplaces. “Mental health” in the workplace, in particular, needs to be more than something you just hear about in your health plan. Innovative human resources departments are surely able to regularly implement mental health into the workplace conversation. Mental health then goes from being something “extraneous” to being part of the “everyday.” That conversation needs to include the acknowledgment that a mental health crisis can happen to any of us. That it can happen to “someone like you.”

And I think communicating, as part of the everyday conversation, the availability of workplace mental health resources is key. Otherwise, it’s easy for an employee to say to themselves, “I think there’s some kind of resources available at work, but I wouldn’t even know where to start.” Because when you are in crisis, it can feel overwhelming to figure out what kind of help you need. With regular communication about those resources, the employee will be more likely to call upon them.

At its core, the story of Stage Combat: A Mental Health Story is about the need for human resources (HR) departments to validate and acknowledge an employee in crisis. The silence I faced in my workplace under the most difficult circumstances of my life not only damaged my mental health but made it worse. It’s time for HR departments to step up. Humanize your employees. Care and support their mental health.

Q. What advice would you give to men who are struggling with their mental health but feel hesitant to seek help?

Sean: Guys, everyone has a mental health story. Just some stories are more intense than others. So you’re not alone. And men need to realize “mental health is health.” You would seek medical treatment if you were suffering heart troubles. Well, your mind is just as important as your heart. Give it the same priority as you would the rest of your body.

And I would just add, one guy to another, that you are not “less than a man” because you are struggling with your mental health. And whatever your notion of “being a man” is, think about this: You will be a better one by investing in yourself and your mental health. You will be a better father, spouse, partner, and member of your community.


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