Living Well – Men’s Wellbeing

Ressources et soutien pour les hommes qui ont été victimes d'abus sexuels dans l'enfance.

The Living Well App is designed to assist men who have been sexually abused in childhood. It provides practical resources, support & suggestions. The information & resources in the Living Well app draw upon research evidence & practice knowledge.

Childhood sexual abuse can have a profound impact on men’s lives & relationships. However, men who have been sexually abused can live rich, full lives, develop healthy relationships & make positive contributions within our communities.

The Living Well App is designed to complement, not replace, the work of a qualified health care professional. The App covers the following areas:

Well-being

This section details information & actions to improve current health & well-being. Research tells us that having these building blocks in place enhances quality of life. Included are text & audio resources related to:

• Building connections

• Physical well-being

• Learning and thinking

• Living by your values

• 15 Mindfulness exercises

• 7 Relaxation exercises

Assessment

The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) is used to measure current well-being. To get a well-being score, read through the 14 questions & select the box that best describes your thoughts & feelings over the last 2 weeks. Upon completion, you will receive an assessment of your current well-being & steps you can take to enhance it. A chart plotting your results over time will help you track of your progress.

Learning

This section provides basic information about childhood sexual abuse, common impacts, difficulties & challenges that men who have been sexually abused in childhood or sexually assaulted as adults can face. We have included discussions of different ways of coping, as well as questions & suggestions to help you think through & deal with difficulties.

Manage Difficulties

This section offers suggestions to better manage common difficulties that can confront & overwhelm people exposed to abuse, including:

• Difficult memories

• Avoiding triggers

• Feeling isolated/disconnected

• Sad/depressed

• Anxious/worrying

• Anger

• Sleeping difficulties

Once you have selected the difficulty, you are asked to rate your level of distress on a scale of 1-10. Depending on the rating & specific difficulty identified, the Living Well App provides relevant information & suggestions of action you can take to better manage the distress.

Time2Breathe

We can all benefit from putting aside time to breathe, to settle & physically calm ourselves. The Time2Breathe function is a valuable tool to use on a daily basis, not just when you are feeling stressed, anxious or agitated. This function allows you to select the length of time & number of breaths per minute you want to practice the breathing exercise for. It offers visual & auditory cues to prompt your breath in & out. There are options to customise the prompts & schedule a daily appointment. A couple of minutes of breathing in time with the beats can help calm your body & mind.

Support

Everyone benefits from being connected & accessing support at different times. The support section contains & provides access to:

• Support line telephone numbers

• Add numbers from your own contacts - valued friends, supporters, professionals

• Links to useful websites

• Pre-loaded music – ‘More than a drop’

• Add your own music that helps you to feel connected & lift your mood

• A collection of calming & inspiring images which you can add to

Blog

The community blog link offers further information, inspiration, encouragement & hope. It's a place to keep abreast with the latest initiatives & ideas. Here you can offer encouragement & hope to other men (anonymously if you wish), & post comments, quotes, stories, inspirational images & videos. It's designed to help make the Living Well App more dynamic - ever improving & evolving.

Keywords: men's health, men's wellbeing, trauma, male survivor, sexual abuse, sexual assault, PTSD, mindfulness, relaxation, support, Living Well.