Monsor Mehrbakhani, left, and Kamal Ghattas work on the garden, which will soon grow By Shaun Inguanzo
A GROUNDBREAKING Keysborough handyman program is inadvertently preventing retired, lonely and separated men from falling into the pitfalls of depression and social isolation.
And it’s all happening in a shed.
The Keysmen Shed program at Keysborough Learning Centre began in 2004 as a way of attracting men to the centre.
KLC coordinator Denis Minogue said learning centres were originally designed to attract women into community activities and education.
But he said the classroom approach had failed to attract men.
“They needed their own space so the concept of the shed was born,” Mr Minogue said.
Mr Minogue said the men met in the shed on Fridays and learned handyman skills while designing and building objects ranging from wheelchairs to tables.
The men’s work is then installed in and around the learning centre, and Mr Minogue said the contributions gave the men a sense of self-satisfaction.
Mr Minogue said the idea had become so popular that KLC was hoping to develop an Association of Sheds to help other suburbs establish their own men’s shed programs.
“We will be helping Kooweerup and Pakenham to set up their own sheds,” he said.
But the Keysmen Shed’s real success is its ability to teach men life skills.
Beyond power tools and woodwork, Mr Mingoue said the shed and its social environment were preventing isolated, divorced, retired, or retrenched men from falling into depression.
Mr Minogue said depression in men was a growing problem as men rarely spoke about their problems, unlike women.
At the shed, the men learn techniques to solve problems that Mr Minogue hopes they will use to deal with their own problems.
They also speak with each other to prevent the harmful “bottling up” of emotions.
Several Keysmen told Star they were qualified engineers and builders, but had either retired or been made redundant.
Noble Park’s Kamal Ghattas, 64, was an engineer who gave 30 years of public service to Victoria before he was retrenched.
The self-confessed workaholic told Star he would still have an empty space in his life if not for the Keysmen Shed.
Mr Minogue said the Keysmen would this year work on a not-for-profit business plan to begin assisting pensioners in the Keysborough area next year.
Mental health agency Beyond Blue said the Keysmen Shed and similar programs across the state were valuable initiatives for promoting men’s health.
Beyond Blue deputy CEO Dr Nicole Highet said one in six men suffered depression at some stage in their lives.
She said the peak depression age groups for men were between 35 and 44, and 45 and 54, whereas women’s peak age group was 18 to 24.
Dr Highet said men viewed depression as a sign of failure rather than a common and treatable illness and therefore refused to seek help through traditional medical avenues.
