Changing the Game - an Interview with Mark Hedstrom

Mark Hedstrom, US Executive Director of Movember, will be featured and interviewed in the July Issue of Cancer Wellness Magazine – also on the cover and being featured is Mo Bro Nathan Adrian, US Olympic Swimmer and testicular cancer survivor. Below is a snippet from Mark's interview with Cancer Wellness.

People grow moustaches for a variety of reasons. They might think they look better with facial hair than without; they might do it to attract attention; or they might do it because their significant others like it. For almost 20 years, the Movember Foundation has been giving men another reason to grow a moustache: making a change in men’s health.

Movember is a global men’s health organisation funding projects all over the world to help address and combat mental health, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer. It also partners with many other organisations that specialize in various aspects of men’s health.

“What we’ve realized was the simple idea behind getting men to grow a moustache generated conversation,” explains Mark Hedstrom, U.S. executive director at Movember. “With that, as we started to invest in cancer, we were focusing on the physical manifestations of the disease. What we realized is that there was an overlap on what else was happening with a man with respect to cancer. It’s not just physical issues, it’s also directly tied to mental health and overall wellness.”

Every November, moustaches are grown as a call to action for Movember’s cause. Participants create an account through Movember’s website to document their moustache progress and receive support and donations. All donations go toward funding health projects in suicide prevention, prostate cancer and testicular cancer.

For Hedstrom, his work with Movember reaches a personal level. Before he joined the organisation, Hedstrom lost a longtime friend to pancreatic cancer. He remembers the shock he and his other friends felt as his friend went through cancer treatment, and the sense of loss when his friend ultimately passed. Hedstrom wanted to do something to help other men through their struggles, both cancer- and mental health-related.

Movember’s goal is that by 2030, the number of men dying prematurely will be reduced by 25 percent. The organisation’s hope is for more research and awareness to be directed toward cancer in men, and that men will have the facilities they need to take control of their mental health.

“What I’ve come to understand is that the language of the health system in most markets doesn’t really speak to men in the way they want to be spoken to,” says Hedstrom. “So, when you get to mental health, they don’t have permission to even talk about [it]. They won’t even engage a therapist, because that whole process is not set up for men to engage in the way that they would want to engage.” Hedstrom, along with many other men, says he grewup in such a way where if you had a problem, you would “put duct tape or rub dirt on it. You don’t complain about it; you just move forward. What is the language [men] should be using to talk about these issues, or how do you engage a friend you know is struggling with their treatment from cancer or mental health issues? How do you start that conversation that gives permission for them to talk”?

If you’d like a free digital copy of the July Issue, featuring the rest of Mark’s interview, and Nathan Adrian, please email tony@movember.com - while supplies last.