Contiki Gives Back With Movember Partnership
This year, Contiki partnered with Movember, the leading global men’s health charity dedicated to changing the face of men’s health around the world, to tell unique mental health stories through handpicked Contiki ambassadors, including stories on grief, the pressure of being successful and the power of male friendships.
Movember encourages millions of men around the world to support the men in their lives by growing a moustache to raise funds and awareness for men’s health issues. Whether it be growing a moustache – becoming a walking, visible face for the campaign – committing to walking or running 60 miles over the month or hosting a ‘Mo-ment’ fundraising event, all activity helps raise funds for this important cause. Contiki Canada team members participated in nationwide fundraising in partnership with The Travel Corporation Canada.
“Globally, men die nearly six years earlier than women and one in nine Canadian men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. It’s the most common cancer in young men and, in Canada, suicide is the leading cause of death among males aged 15-44. These statistics for men are shocking, and our partnership with Movember is just the start of tackling these issues,” says Sheralyn Berry, president of Contiki Canada. “We all know the power of storytelling and how important it is to share our stories and personal experiences to help others connect and open up – we’ve seen it and heard it from our travellers who have life-changing experiences while on trips, often dealing with personal issues, social anxiety and mental health with the support of their group. At Contiki, our mission for Movember is to make support accessible for all men, by telling their stories through our channels – opening up awareness and support to a whole generation of 18-35-year-olds – including real, personal stories from our ambassadors as well as advice and resources. Anyone can get involved with raising funds and awareness for all the dads, brothers, sons and men in our lives, and we want to encourage all of our travellers, partners and travel family to join in and support men’s health however they can.”
To support Movember, Contiki is taking awareness-raising one step further by partnering with specially selected Contiki contributors to share unique stories about what men’s mental health means to them. The hero piece in the storytelling series is a “conversation on the deck” video, hosted by Movember’s Global Director of Mental Health & Suicide Prevention (and former CEO of R U OK?) Brendan Maher. It features five influential men speaking out about their own experiences with mental health issues and working to help others find a way forward.
The group includes: Movember ambassadors – CrossFit champion Khan Porter and former Survivor contestant Shawn Hampson; plus, Contiki contributors – former Home and Away star Lincoln Lewis, musician Ziggy Ramo and podcaster Dylan Nicholson. This storytelling video includes individual interviews and group activities like hiking and kayaking that get people together and talking, followed by a group discussion, all on the theme of opening up and connection – the importance of sharing lived experiences and stories to support men’s mental health.
The story series was released on Contiki’s content hub, Six-Two, including interviews with the contributors, articles on positivity and balance while on the road and the effect of travel on anxiety. Other storytellers from around the world include: entrepreneur Timothy Hoang in the US; the Visionary Brothers and content creator Max Homer in Australia, and journalist Paul Bell in the UK.
To further support the cause, Contiki gave away four places on a Northern Thai Highlights trip as part of “Big Mo on Campus,” a leading student fundraiser in Australia, Canada, the US and the UK – helping to bring to life the fresh perspectives and life-changing shared experiences travel can provide for mental health.
For more details on Contiki’s Movember activity, visit https://contiki.com/movember.
