June is widely recognized as Men’s Mental Health Month. While this is a contemporary awareness campaign mostly promoted in Western health systems, it can be meaningfully aligned with Anishinaabe teachings.
The Anishinaabe worldview offers powerful, holistic insights into men’s wellness, mental balance, and emotional expression—all rooted in cultural identity, community, and the natural world.
Read along to learn how Anishinaabe teachings can meaningfully relate to Men’s Mental Health Month. These teachings were shared by Allen Sutherland, White Spotted Horse, Cultural Advisor for the Southern Chiefs’ Organization.
Teachings
Medicine Wheel Teachings
Balance the Four Directions
The Anishinaabe Medicine Wheel is a sacred symbol and framework used by many Anishinaabe peoples (including the Ojibway, Odawa, and Potawatomi) to understand and teach about interconnectedness of life. It presents balance, harmony, and holistic well-being. While details can vary among communities, the core teachings typically revolve around four directions, each with multiple layers of meaning, including aspects of life, nature, and spirituality.
The Medicine Wheel teaches us that health is about balance between the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual aspects of life. Reflect on where you may feel out of balance, and take small steps toward restoring harmony.
- East – Spiritual: Connect with spirit through prayer, ceremony, smudging, or quiet reflection.
- South – Emotional: Express your feelings honestly, cry if needed, laugh often.
- West – Physical: Walk in nature, eat traditional or wholesome foods, move your body.
- North – Mental: Practice mindfulness, limit negative self-talk, seek knowledge.
Bimaadiziwin — The Good Life
- Mino-bimaadiziwin is central: To live a balanced, good life in alignment with the Creator, community, and land.
- For men, this means taking responsibility for healing, emotions, and relationships, not just physical or external strength.
The Seven Grandfather Teachings
These core values guide personal and community well-being, including mental health.
All genders are meant to embody them, but they can be especially supportive in reshaping ideas of masculinity:
- Nbwaakaawin (Wisdom) – Knowing when to ask for help.
- Zaagi’idiwin (Love) – Loving oneself enough to seek healing.
- Manaaji’idiwin (Respect) – For others and oneself.
- Aakode’ewin (Bravery) – The courage to be vulnerable.
- Gwayakwaadiziwin (Honesty) – Being truthful about your struggles.
- Dabaadendiziwin (Humility) – Understanding our place in the circle of life.
- Debwewin (Truth) – Living authentically.
Role of the Moon Cycles
While the moon is often associated with women in many teachings, some communities also see certain moons or seasons as times for men’s reflection.
June, known in many places as the Strawberry Moon (Ode’imin Giizis), is about forgiveness, renewal, and heart work—perfect for emotional healing and checking in with mental wellness.
Restoring Traditional Roles
Colonization damaged Indigenous understandings of gender.
Traditional roles for Anishinaabe men were protective, gentle, community-minded, and spiritual.
Reconnecting with those roles can be a path to mental wellness and identity healing.
The Sweat Lodge & Ceremonies
Ceremonies like the sweat lodge, fasting, and sharing circles are traditional healing spaces where men can process grief, trauma, and depression in culturally safe ways.
These are deeply tied to mental, spiritual, and emotional health.