Recent research on workplace wellbeing was outlined at the Healthy Workplace Networking Seminar at the Department of Health Head Office in Dublin on Monday, May 23. Lorcan Brennan, MDN’s Training & Resource Development Manager, and Finian Murray, HSE Men’s Health Development Officer (pictured) were among those who attended the half-day gathering in the Department of Health, taking the opportunity to promote plans for Men’s Health Week, which takes place from June 13–19th and is themed ‘MISSION: isPOSSIBLE’.
The Men’s Development Network has influenced policy on men’s issues at local, regional, national and international levels and has a proud record in multi-agency work and engagement.
The Men’s Development Network is a non-profit organisation headquartered in Waterford, Ireland, with the key focus on being leaders in promoting change and equality within society.
Under the mission statement “Better Lives for Men; Better Lives for All,” the Men’s Development Network works with men on various levels including one-to-one, developmental, parenting, behaviour change group work, training, phoneline support and awareness raising.
This work is carried out through our funded projects including Men’s Development Programme, Men’s Health Programme, MEND Domestic Violence Intervention Programme, MAL Men’s Advice Line and Men’s Counselling Service.
ON FEIRM GROUND — the new workshop series that equips agricultural advisors with the knowledge and skills to engage farmers around their health & wellbeing — continued its successful nationwide rollout in February and early March.
Delivered online, the course is Unit 8 of the ‘Engage’ National Men’s Health Training Programme. Specialising in evidence-based best practice around connecting males with health and social services, the Engage model was developed to address the deficit in gender-sensitive service provision.
The Men’s Development Network worked with its Engage Training partners (namely Institute of Technology Carlow, HSE Ireland, Men’s Health Forum in Ireland, and Waterford Institute of Technology) to prepare and deliver the course modules.
Originally intended for in-room settings but adapted to the landscape shaped by Covid-19, On Feirm Ground is instead being workshopped live online to frontline agri advisors around Ireland. It informs their engagement with farmers on health and wellbeing issues and in signposting clients to appropriate services.
Supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Dept of Health and the HSE (see here), the programme serves to mainstream a health promotion focus into routine farming extension activities.
“The feedback from the rollout of On Feirm Ground has been very positive,” says Lorcan Brennan, MDN’s National Training & Resource Development Manager. “It’s proving a versatile and rich remote learning experience. All involved are drawing much from the valuable and interesting content covered each day.”
Sessions are being facilitated by agricultural advisors in conjunction with key partners, including MDN and the HSE. Throughout February and early March, 10 online training days took place.
Registrations and academic research feedback are being channelled through the dynamic new engagetraining.ie website. Bookings were very strong, with some dates oversubscribed. The next series of ‘get On Feirm Ground’ workshops are due to take place in June.
Our MEND Programme for men perpetrating relationship violence is taking referrals.
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A fully booked Valentine’s Day presentation was delivered to Facilitators of the HSE’s Quit Smoking for Men Programme, drawing on key learnings from the Engage National Men’s Health Programme and highlighting evidence-based insights.
MDN’s Lorcan Brennan and Finian Murray, Men’s Health Development Officer within the HSE Ireland Health Promotion and Improvement Department, co-facilitated this online workshop (hosted by the HSE’s Caitriona Reynolds). It focused on positively supporting and engaging men with their health and wellbeing, specifically around the subject of smoking.
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