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Health Experts Hope Dr. Rich Mahogany And ‘Man Therapy’ Can Reduce Suicide In Men

By Leigh Paterson

Published November 21, 2018 at 7:40 PM EST

Man Therapy cards and koozies at a recent El Paso County event. [ Leigh Paterson / KUNC ] — Man Therapy cards and koozies at a recent El Paso County event.

Tens of thousands of Americans die by suicide each year; it is a leading cause of death among working-age men in the U.S. In Colorado, 56 percent of men who die by suicide used a firearm.

Between 2004 and 2017, more people died by suicide in El Paso County, a populated area that is home to multiple military bases and Colorado Springs, than in any other county in the state. Last year, 75 percent of those people were men.

That’s why county health officials are trying to reach men before their crisis point through “Man Therapy.” The slightly crass, tongue-in-cheek public health program lives largely online, in the form of a slick website that aims to first draw in men with funny videos and witty graphics — and then offer them mental health resources.

The creators of Man Therapy believe the program meets men where they are by softening the language around mental health with easy to digest slogans like, “You can’t fix your mental health with duct tape,” and “Therapy from the creators of pork chops and fighter jets.”

Colorado state health officials created the Man Therapy program six years ago. Now, El Paso County has launched a year-long campaign featuring billboards, TV ads, promotional events and posters tacked up in the men’s bathrooms of bars and restaurants as well as holding promotional events.