In partnership with the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation and the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, the Summit County ADM Board has launched a social marketing campaign targeted at working-aged men to erase the stigma surrounding mental health. Man Therapy™ reshapes the conversation, using humor to cut through stigma and tackle issues like depression, divorce and even suicidal thoughts head on, the way a man would do it.
 
Man Therapy™ provides men approaching crisis, and the people who care about them, a place to go and learn more about men’s mental health, examine their own and consider a wide array of actions that will put them on the path to treatment and recovery, all within an easy-to-access online portal at www.mantherapy.org.  

Upon visiting www.mantherapy.org, men and their loved ones will find they have a virtual appointment with Dr. Rich Mahogany – a character created to greet visitors, make them feel at ease and provide an overview of what they will find and explore during their visit. Dr. Mahogany is a man’s man who is dedicated to cutting through the denial with a fresh approach using his rapier wit, odd sense of humor, straightforward approach and practical, useful advice for men. His tone debunks the age-old stigma that says mental health disorders are an unmanly sign of weakness. 

Resources and tools available at www.mantherapy.org include:

• The Man Therapy 20-point Head Inspection – a 5-minute online quiz
• Rich’s List of Man Therapy-certified resources: The “Little Black Book” for your brain
• A Veteran’s Resources section under “Gentlemental Health”
• A “worried about someone” section with resources for anyone worried about a man in their life

Man Therapy initially launched in Colorado on July 9, 2012 as the result of a unique partnership between Cactus, a Denver-based advertising agency, the Office of Suicide Prevention at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Carson J. Spencer Foundation. This groundbreaking new approach to men’s mental health issues has since launched in several states across the U.S., as well as internationally.