International Men’s Day 2025

Andrew Pain is a motivational and CPD accredited mental health speaker, a podcaster and award-winning campaigner for men and boys, leading in his work on men’s mental health, also delivering talks on burnout, community building and psychological safety.He’s a lived-experience speaker on domestic abuse and his popular TEDx talMale k is one of the only TED/TEDx talks exploring the topic as a male victim.

Ahead of International Men’s Day in November this year, Andrew has kindly allowed us to publish this article on why we should celebrate this day

Celebrating Male Heroes in November

The welfare of men and boys has become a hot topic in 2025, a year in which, Gareth Southgate’s Richard Dimbley lecture, was aired in March 2025, a powerful talk, which explored the crisis facing young men and how to move forward. The Netflix series, Adolescence was released to great acclaim and has provoked debate across political and ideological lines. In the same year, the influential Lost Boys report.was published and the UK government has been progressing it’s commitment made at the end of 2024, to form a men’s health strategy. 

But whilst conversations about the welfare of men and boys are being had, there is serious disagreement over the causes and solutions. Some would argue that it’s down to toxic masculinity, men need to talk more, and the good men out there, need to stand up more boldly for what is right. Others would argue that men have largely been ignored and forgotten by political parties (with the exception of the far right) and that whilst men have historically had a privilege of being born male, there are large groups of men, particularly working class men who would not see themselves as privileged. 

Within this context and as we approach Men’s International Day, it’s a fantastic opportunity to provoke mature and balanced discussion. 

• Are men struggling and if so, where’s the evidence?
• If men are struggling, what are causes?
• How do we solve the issues?   

One aspect to solving the crisis is a new commitment to celebrate the achievements of everyday male heroes. They may not wear capes or self-promote, but there’s plenty of them out there, their stories largely untold. When we talk about male role models and creating positive examples for the next generation of men, 90% of people who win a Carnegie Hero medal are male, where the requirements include putting your life one the line  for someone else and the nominating criteria is stringent to say the least! So who are these men? And why don’t we hear more about them? 

Or the man who prevented a suicide bomber in Leeds from blowing up a hospital cafe in 2023. Armed with kindness and a good heart, he noticed that the would-be bomber, standing outside the hospital cafe and ready to take action, didn’t seem ok. So he reached out to him, asked if he was ok, got talking to him and then talked him out of committing an atrocity, which could have been the biggest suicide attack in Britain since the 7/7 bombings. You’ve probably not heard the story if you live outside Leeds, nor could you name the male hero (his name is Nathan Newby)

On my podcast, Men on Show. Azim Khamisa was one of my guests and his son was tragically murdered whilst delivering pizza to fund his university studies. Rather than seek revenge, Azim went onto mentor the murderer and establish a forgiveness project which has gone around the world. His TEDx talk delivered in collaboration with the grandfather of the murderer is one of the most emotional you’ll watch. Not all male heroes wear capes, they can be found quite easily, but their stories often go untold.

As we come into November, let’s celebrate the amazing men in our lives and the work they do. Let’s put a spotlight on their stories in order to inspire the next generation of men

For more information on Andrew Pain please visit his webpage or contact us on enquiries@scampspeakers.co.uk