Mensline is a telephone based counselling service specifically for men and staffed by male only counsellors.

Operated from LifeLine Auckland’s Greenlane premises, Mensline’s free national service has been supporting, encouraging and empowering men to create positive change in their lives for over 12 years.

On the 3rd September Mensline is launching 2 new services tailored to meet the needs of our changing society …

Call Back Counselling – will offer callers to Mensline the option of receiving a phone call from a counsellor at an agreed time. This will give counsellors the opportunity to “check in” with a caller who may have been supported through a crisis during a previous call to Mensline and will help ensure that things are progressing well.

Call Again Counselling – this enables men to call Mensline at a future date and to speak to the same counsellor they had previously spoken with, in this way allowing callers to “pick up where they left off” and eliminating the need to re-tell their story. It enables counsellor and caller to establish a closer rapport and deeper understanding of the issues being discussed.

“Let’s face it, in our society men and women do relate differently to their partners, their families, their friends and even to themselves” says Denis Bunbury, Mensline’s Manager and the Assistant Director of Counselling for LifeLine Auckland

“From an early age we encourage boys to be tough and strong, to put up and shut up and to not ask for help or express what they are feeling. As adults, these messages are reinforced every day and it can leave men trapped as their truly felt and genuinely expressed feelings are somehow unwelcome…. with no place to go the pressure created by bottled up emotions can sometimes explode into feelings of anger, despair, hopelessness or depression” he added

“Mensline is a safety valve that accepts, supports and encourages men and allows them to move beyond the limitations of male stereotypes and let some of this pressure to escape safely – but we are not just here for men at the point of crisis, when the explosion is about to happen” he added. “We can also be the catalyst for positive change and the means by which men can begin to improve the quality of their relationships with family and the community in general” he said

Tough but sensitive; strong but compassionate, competitive but a team player, reliable but a risk taker….a good mate, a good father, a good son, a good partner.

It’s a tall order and more and more men are finding the tension of the push and pull of their changing and sometimes opposing roles in society too much to cope with - something has to give and when it does there can be dire consequences.

 
In New Zealand 80% of the people who die due to suicide are men…..and whilst men are often portrayed as the perpetrators of violence, they are also frequently the victims of it too with 76% of assault victims who require hospitalisation being men

79% of problem gamblers and 77% of problem drinkers are men – it is often an unseen problem – but the consequences for families and society generally are huge.

“We often read of the negative impacts on our society of men who lack the means to live in healthy ways………..by being a service tailored for men, provided by men, Mensline encourages trust, courage and integrity and offers men the opportunity to talk about their problems openly and honestly. This can help improve not only their lives, but also have a hugely positive impact on their family and their personal and work-place relationships too, and in this way can benefit the community as a whole” said Rita Inch Lifeline’s Director of counselling.

Mensline operates from 6.30pm to 10.30pm Monday to Friday.
Call 09 522 2500 or from outside Auckland call 0800 MENSLINE (0800 636 754)

Ends

For more information or for an interview contact Denis Bunbury, Mensline Manager on 09 524 3080 or email denisb@lifeline.org.nz

Issued by Sarah Frayne, Lifeline Auckland, email sarahf@lifeline.org.nz, call 09 524 3080 or 021 11 06430, 95 Great South Road, Remuera, Auckland