I’VE always lived among men, from brothers, cousins, teammates, and classmates. From planning events and watching football to studying at the Building Department of the University of Technology, Jamaica and racing cars around track corners, I’ve spent my life in the company of uncles, friends, mentors, and heartbreaks.

I’ve laughed with them. I’ve grown beside them. And I’ve also watched them suffer in silence.

Many of the men I know have spent a lifetime being told to prove their worth, to never appear weak, and certainly never cry. It’s a narrative deeply embedded in our culture, one that cloaks vulnerability in shame and worships a version of masculinity that rewards silence over self-care.

But this outdated script is doing more harm than good.

While global conversations around mental health have gained momentum, one group continues to battle quietly in the shadows, and these are our men. Jamaican men, in particular, are navigating a system that never prepared them to speak openly about emotional pain. And that silence has consequences that can be seen on families, communities, and individual lives.

Mental illness is not a mark of failure. That stigma needs to be cancelled. Depression, anxiety, trauma and burnout are not exclusive to women or relegated to private crises. Yet so many of our fathers, brothers, boyfriends and sons are carrying invisible weight, lacking not just the language to express their struggles but also the permission to do so.

Let’s be clear: this is not about weakness. It’s about survival.

Too many men live in survival or hustling mode, pressured to be stoic providers while their emotional wounds go untreated. They cry in secret. They carry grief behind humour. They suppress sadness with silence. And they’re praised for this, instead of being offered support.

It’s time to shift the narrative.

We must start teaching young boys that there is no shame in saying, “I’m not okay”. We must normalise therapy for men. We must create safe spaces in our homes, schools and workplaces where men can feel safe to speak, to break, and to just be human.

God’s true design for men

According to the Bible, men were never created to be emotionless machines or silent warriors. From the very beginning, God’s design for man was intentional, relational, and deeply purposeful. Genesis 1:27–28 tells us, “So God created man in His own image… male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and multiply… fill the earth and subdue it”.

This passage reveals that men were created to reflect God’s image along with His creativity, compassion, strength, and wisdom. They were called to steward creation, lead with love, and walk in relationship with both God and others.

Throughout scripture, we see men like David, who was called a man after God’s own heart, openly express sorrow, fear, and joy in the Psalms. Jesus Himself was designed as the perfect model of manhood, and wept, showed compassion, and bore emotional burdens for others.

God’s purpose for men includes leadership, yes, but not leadership rooted in dominance, pain, anger or silence. It’s leadership grounded in humility, service, and emotional honesty. Ephesians 5:25 calls men to “love [their] wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” That’s not stoicism, no, it’s sacrificial, vulnerable love.

When we deny men the space to feel, we deny them the fullness of their God-given design.

A call to honour and heal

Mental health care is not a privilege for a few, nor should it be feminised. It is a right, and a necessity, for everyone.

So this is a call to action for leaders, churches, media houses, families, and friends. Let’s move beyond hashtags and token observances. Let’s build a culture where wellness is part of manhood, not something outside of it.

Let us listen to our men before the silence becomes permanent.

Because when men heal, so do the generations they raise.

Khalice Bradshaw-Davis is an industrial and organisational psychologist, career coach and counsellor. E-mail organisationalpsychologist@gmail.com.