Musician Rapper Josh Smiiffy found himself isolated as a child and severely depressed and suicidal as a teenager. He found help in writing and performing his own music. Although he still suffers, he says, from ‘more downs than ups’ he is keen to see more help for children. Josh would like more arts and sports […]
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We’re On the Same Team, Josh Smiiffy
Paralympic Surfer, Bruno Hansen
Surfing Champion “You’re paralysed and you’ll never walk again.” Those were the words Bruno Hansen heard after his spine was snapped. A broken shell of a human being, Bruno tried to drown himself before a wave hit him and, as he says, “the joy kicked in”. Bruno is now three-time ISA World Adaptive Surfing Champion. […]
The Power of Telling your Story, Lily Asch
As a teenager she was labeled ‘unsafe to self’ and locked in a psychiatric ward. For a long time Lily Asch continued to be ashamed of her experience, until she opened up and discovered the power of conversation. Now Asch runs Real Talk, a social enterprise organizing storytelling workshops in a safe space, enabling people […]
We Need People Who Think Differently, Vikie Shanks
Author, Speaker & Mentor Vikie Shanks was widowed when her husband took his own life. She was left to bring up seven children, six of whom are on the autistic spectrum. Two of her children have cerebral palsy. Vikie, on her own, had no choice but to cope and to enable her children and herself […]
Finding the Answers Inside Yourself, Dave Lee
Ex Builder Turned Mental Health Campaigner Ten years ago, Dave Lee was working as a builder. He was depressed, drinking heavily and attempted to end his life. Recovering, he looked for answers. Eventually he realised that he could only find those insights and answers inside himself. He describes the difference between the ‘personal mind’ and […]
Former Olympic Heavyweight Gold Medallist, Audley Harrison
Boxing Champion Audley Harrison grew up in a broken home in a tough part of London. By the age of 17 he had been expelled from schools and ended up in juvenile detention. Relying on willpower, he turned his life around, becoming a university graduate and a boxing sensation. Harrison, who is retired and lives […]
When Not Killing Yourself Becomes the Goal, Maggie Robbins
Bipolar Art Therapist When she was a college student, Bipolar Disorder brought her to her knees. Now well-known New York art therapist and psychotherapist Maggie Robbins helps others connect with their ‘inner monster’. ‘You can almost think of anything someone makes as a self-portrait.’ Robbins, an artist herself, wrote a semi-autobiographical novel of poems while […]
Surviving Suicide, the Tartan Way, Josh Quigley
Two years ago, Josh Quigley woke in the middle of the night, got into his car and drove into a concrete barrier at 80 miles-an-hour. A crippling battle with depression had held this outwardly happy Scottish entrepreneur in a deadly grip. Miraculously, Quigley escaped unscathed. He decided to travel the world as ‘The Tartan Explorer’, […]
Team GB Olympic athlete, Jack Green
Team GB Olympic Athlete When 20-year old Jack Green stumbled over a hurdle during the 2012 London Olympics, his dream and his mind exploded. ‘I couldn’t do one run without feeling awful.’ Green descended into depression, contemplating suicide. During an 18-month break he learned to control his self-destructive perfectionism. ‘I never fell out of love […]
Mental Health Campaigner & Creator of ‘Stranger on the Bridge’, Jonny Benjamin MBE and Neil Laybourn
The Stranger on the Bridge Just before his 21st birthday, Jonny Benjamin MBE decided to run away from the mental hospital he was staying in. While he was sitting on the edge of London’s Waterloo Bridge, contemplating taking his own life, a man came up and talked him out of it. Six years later, a […]
Counsellor & Therapist, Sharon Eden
Psychotherapist – ‘Dare to be You’ Depression is not an illness, says Sharon Eden, it is part of the human condition. And Eden knows, having worked as a psychotherapist for 30 years, as well as having her own depressive and suicidal episodes. ‘If you act with it, it can be the most precious time in […]
The Stigma of Bipolar, Thomas Duncan Bell
The Bipolar Businessman In many ways Thomas Duncan Bell is like any other entrepreneur: he runs successful businesses, is driven and ambitious. In his early twenties, however, he was diagnosed with a bipolar disorder, after entering a local police station bleeding, pleading for help. He still occasionally suffers, yet is also directing his rather impressive […]