The Movember Foundation is a multinational charity that aims to raise awareness of and money for men’s health. They address some of the biggest health issues faced by men: prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and mental health and suicide prevention. And it’s definitely not just about moustaches!

In this episode, one of Movember’s Senior VPs, Mark Hedstrom, sits down with Dan to talk specifically about mental health among fathers (since it is #FathersMonth after all…)  

As a society, we’ve raised the bar for what it means to be a great dad in the last couple of decades. Men are enjoying a lot more freedom to be fully, physically and emotionally involved in all of the ups and downs of parenting. But, as the Movember Foundation points out on their Facebook page, part of being a great dad is taking care of yourself, so you’ll be around to see your kids through all their major milestones.

Unfortunately, this also means that a lot of Dads are also feeling pressure do things perfectly. It’s not enough to be a good Dad; you have to be a GREAT one. The day-to-day stresses of trying to be Super Dad (and Super Husband, and Super Son, and Super Employee) can definitely take a toll on a man’s mental health. And, it can cause him to de-prioritize his own physical health in favor of devoting more time to the family. And remember, as we say on MRP all of the time: you can’t do it perfectly, but you can always do it consciously.

To get started, visit Movember.com

Practical and Tactical

1. Make plans to get together with your guy friends on a regular basis. And when you do, create an opportunity to talk about what’s really going on in his life. Practice the ALEC model— Ask, Listen, Encourage, Check-in.
2. Reach out to guys you haven’t talked to in a while. Make plans to reconnect
3. Understand that men face significant, unique health risks. At age 45, start talking to your doctor about your risks for prostate and/or testicular cancer.

About Our Guest

Mark Hedstrom is the SVP of Program Commercialization for the Movember Foundation, the only global charity focused solely on men’s health, funding over 1,200 innovative projects across 21 countries. To date, they have raised hundreds of millions for men’s health programs supporting these critical areas: prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention.

Mark is responsible for evaluating, and where appropriate, developing business cases and commercialization strategies for select national and global program investments, including but not limited to, licensing, major grants, development of social enterprise business models, intellectual property royalties and the productizing of health service products.

He grew up outside of Boston but now lives in LA. He is the third (out of three) most important humans in his family and just ahead of the two dogs, David Ortiz and LeBron James.

Mentioned in This Episode

ALEC

Movember

Testicular Cancer

Prostate Cancer

Donate to The Movember Foundation

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