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Heres a bit about my own story on mental health:

Good mental health is so important to lead a happy and fulfilling life. I know this first hand, as I’ve had a taste of the opposite over the years. Growing up I had an overwhelming sense of not being good enough. As I grew I learnt to put a brave face on things, smile and make jokes, and work hard to try and prove myself wrong. I was the star actor in the “Drama of JK’s Life”!

Acting your way through life is draining and for every success I had, that feeling of joy and happiness disappeared quicker and quicker. Although I couldn’t see it at the time, the reality was that I couldn’t really enjoy my successes as underneath I saw myself as a fraud.

About 6 years ago I suffered depression for about 20 months having denied it initially after concerns from friends. For anyone who really knows me, I’m outgoing and love being around people. At work I was surprisingly fine, but outside of work with no job role to hide behind, I found it increasingly hard to be around people. I would ignore calls and texts and make excuses to get out of events. I was overwhelmed with sadness and didn’t want anyone to see this, as afterall in my head, I had worked so hard to create this image of how I wanted people to see me.

Through a program of support from a course I took, I learnt that it’s ok not to be ok sometimes and that I wasn’t alone on the journey I was experiencing.

I also discovered that people value honesty above everything else and the more I shared with people, despite it being pretty tough and emotional at times, the better it made me feel.

For the first time in my life, I got to properly offload the baggage from the past, the biggest part of which was confronting the person who criticised me and told me daily that I wasn’t good enough among many other nasty things. That person was ME.

Taking responsibility for that and making peace with it suddenly created so much space.  It allowed me to actually create the possibility of being happy just being me!  That may sound corny but walking out the door from this course I completed, I was filled with a new lease of life and for the first time, really understanding that I am enough and can support this world just as much as everyone else.

Over that journey I was blown away by the love and support I received for being completely open and making myself vulnerable, and remain forever grateful to my friends and family.

Everyone’s story is unique and personal to them, but they all have one common thread. They start from a conversation.

 If you don’t feel yourself, then start this conversation today – Despite the voice in your head saying “ don’t make a fool of yourself, there’s nothing wrong with you, be quiet”.  

YOUR VOICE IS IMPORTANT and you are loved, so be heard.

Thanks for taking the time to read why mental health is
important to me.

Please get involved in our campaign, by dusting down those
trainers or show your support through a donation.

Best Wishes,

John