Ohio State’s Interfraternity Council is partnering with MANUAL to spread awareness for men’s mental health. Credit: Interfraternity Council (IFC)
Ohio State’s Interfraternity Council is spreading awareness on men’s mental health through its partnership with MANUAL, an online mental health service.
During the pilot program, all 1,700 members of the council were granted free, on-demand access to MANUAL’s services, including live chats and videos that that cover a wide variety of issues young men face.
“MANUAL’s really great because it’s a 24/7 on-demand service that people can use at any time,” Christopher Higby, the president of the council at Ohio State, said. “It actually has a crisis hotline built into the platform. They have over 20 hours of modules, whether that be focusing on erectile dysfunction, sleep disorder, how to manage your finances [or] things like that.”
Higby said the program was important to the community within the council to create a safe space where members can reach out for help.
“It had been expressed that this community would want something like this,” Higby said. “It’s a judgment-free zone — people log on and do as much as they please.”
MANUAL’s CEO and co-founder, Matthew Stefanko, said MANUAL has videos on topics including sleep, nutrition, physical fitness, mental health and career planning. The site also offers live chats with other young men who are trained in mental health.
“[These programs] are meant to teach these guys that it’s okay to get resources to address these issues and that many of these things they’re dealing with are normal,” Stefanko said. “And a lot of young guys don’t have networks in which they feel comfortable going to other young men and saying, ‘Hey, I’m struggling.’”
Stefanko said MANUAL also offers a weekly newsletter, monthly livestreams and a range of in-person and online events in order to create a community.
In connecting with different universities such as Ohio State, Stefanko said MANUAL has been able to provide a starting place for those who are struggling.
“Our main goal is get more guys connected to resources and services that already exist at the university or in their community, so in a lot of ways we don’t see ourselves as the service provider, we see ourselves as the campaign and platform that convinces guys that they should go and reach out for help,” Stefanko said.
