Thanks for looking at my page. My name is Darren and I’ve served as a Police Officer in Suffolk since 2001, firstly as one of those young, possibly over enthusiastic Special Constables before moving on up into the ranks of the ‘Regulars’ in May of 2003.

Like most of my colleagues out there I have done neighbourhood policing, but since 2010 I’ve been a black rat… a traffic cop! I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in roads policing, I’ve met and worked with some fantastic people and been able to work within a very small, specialist team of Officers who are all so very good at what they do and, the majority at least, so passionate about what they do and why they do it. I have felt very proud and privileged to work within the roads policing arena but sadly it has come at a price!

Unfortunately over the years I’ve lost a good friend who was the same age as me, similar social background (wife and kids) who joined the department at the same time as I did. His career ended in poor mental health where he tried to take his own life on several occasions before being medically retired. Another good friend of mine left the organisation all together as he saw ‘it coming’ and got out just in the nick of time. I can name him, Jerry Cohen as he wrote a book which was published which was all about his mental health struggles. Then you have my Sergeant, the one person we all turn to when we need help, he was off for months due to poor mental health which I think says it all. Then you have me… so that’s four of us in what is a very small office based within a very small rural Force.

I didn’t realise I would ever be one of those that would ever come under the mental health ‘umbrella’ (or stigma as is seen by some) and when they say it sneaks up on you, by golly it does. I’m not going to write war and peace but by the time I realised I was in bad place, my wife and partner of fifteen years had told me she didn’t love the man I had turned into anymore and was considering ending everything I had worked so hard to try and keep together. Dreading the worst, the loss of my wife and kids, within 24 hours I had necked twenty packets of paracetamol. This was on the August Bank Holiday of 2021. I had depression and subsequently had suffered a breakdown upon receipt of this news.

Since then my life and outlook on life has changed so much! Having been helped by so many people since this very dark time, I have made a lot of changes in my life, how I both live my life and see my life in future. With the help of counselling, medication and taking positive steps with my general health and wellbeing, I have come to accept that my marriage was over long ago and that life still goes on. Theirs still so much to live for; and I have so many important people in my life to look out for, not to mention my two beautiful boys!

As a result I want to give something back, back to the Policing Family and in particular, to those colleagues of mine that are suffering from mental health challenges like I did / am and will probably continue to do in some way shape or form.

So in September and October 2022, over 38 days I am going to walk the Camino De Santiago trek from southern France, across the Pyrenees and down into Spain. It’s a walk of over 500 miles and is done alone. People from all over the world complete this walk each year, normally either for religious or spiritual reasons. For me it is purely spiritual. If your not sure how to visualise 500 miles, it’ll be a walk from London to Aberdeen (ish.) It would have been a year since that fateful day when I start this trek and I want it to symbolise how far I have come and my fresh start in life… but… seeing as I’m going to walk so far I thought I may as well try and raise a few pennies for a good cause at the same time?!

So if you know me or would like to support mental health within the Police Service please, please, please sponsor me!

Thank you so much!x

Police Care UK makes sure both serving and former police colleagues who suffer harm, and their families, have someone to when things get tough.We provide practical, emotional, and financial support that is confidential, independent and accessible.Our mission is to reduce the impact of harm on police and their families. We do this by ensuring everyone is aware of the harm police experience, enable people to recover and rebuild their lives, and engage with the police service to do all they can to reduce or prevent harm.