With special guest:
- Diane Sears
Today we are lucky that we get the chance to go to the heart of an international movement by speaking to Diane Sears in the USA about the 2016 International Men’s Day (IMD). Diane is the USA Co-Ordinator for IMD and is a dynamo in the movement with a special interest in caring for the increasing number of incarcerated men and boys.
The theme for IMD this year is “Talk About Male Suicide”. Throughout the world the number of deaths by suicide is in the order of 800,000 per year. And in 99% of countries the majority of these people are the men and boys of the community. In the USA and Australia the ratio of men to women who take their life by suicide is three to one. We must find out why we are losing so many men and boys leaving others to grieve when even one death is too many.
Diane talks about the launch of International Men’s Day 2016 on 6 November with the Third Annual International Day of Prayer for Men and Boys National Teleconference with a very impressive line-up of speakers.
Diane explains why USA IMD 2016 adopted Letting Go written and performed by Greg Best as their anthem.
Diane also talks to us about her platform called “In Search of Fatherhood” which covers her publishing and media production. An ongoing driver for Diane has been to draw attention to the forgotten people in society, those men in jail. In the USA there are 2.5 million incarcerated men and 700,000 of them are released back into the community every year. The problems raised are not going to be solved by just building more jails.
It is fascinating to hear the eloquent Diane Sears talk to us from Philadelphia about what is being done in various areas of concern under the banner of IMD, an annual day of celebration when we get to recognise the men who contribute so much.
Listeners can follow Diane on her Twitter account.
Diane Sears
Diane A Sears is the USA Coordinator for International Men’s Day, Chair of the USA International Men’s Day 10 year Plan Committee, Author, Publisher, Reviewer and Advisor on Fatherhood and men’s studies. Diane is a member of the University Council for Akamai University’s Fatherhood and Men’s Studies Program which is located in Hilo, Hawaii. Diane is also a member of U-CAN which is designed to eradicate fatherlessness and intergenerational incarceration and of the National Affinity Network for The Boys’ Initiative which is headquartered in Washington DC.
Song selections by our guest: All You Need Is Love by The Beatles & Imagine by John Lennon