Adam
The Cause
- Suicide continues to be one of the leading causes of death amongst men particularly between the ages of 25-40 because typically men struggle more to recognise and deal with their emotional turmoil.
- ManKind CIC have created a haven, and phenomenal support community to enable men to traverse their darkest time with the help of talking therapy and counselling.
- £500 will provide at least 20 counselling sessions from qualified counsellors.
- They help me turn my life around when I had to rebuild from absolutely nothing through one of the most difficult periods of my life!
- This isn't about getting donations, it is crowdfunding so you get something in return. Chose from the options or how much you'd like to contribute, or make a custom contribution. If the option gift is not something you personally may want, then you can give it to someone you think might benefit from it.
The Challenge
So I've set myself the challenge to hike the Tour du Mont Blanc in 10days.
I will hike 110miles through the rugged landscape of the Swiss, French and Italian Alps, tackling 10,000 metres of elevation gain, whilst carrying the 15kg weight of all my camping gear and supplies.
ManKindCIC and the Old Bank Trust
Established right at the cusp of the COVID lockdown, two friends, Paul and Ian were faced with the harrowing experience in coming to terms with the suicide of a close friend.
They endeavoured to do everything they could to provide a supportive environment for men going through dark times in their lives and so established a support group and community providing weekly talking therapy sessions where guys can open-up and share what they are going through and support one-another through it. To this day they've helped pull hundreds of men back from the brick.
Listen here to the intro episode of their podcast 'It's Not Weak to Speak':
(Also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify)
Typically through the NHS or other services, it can take months to being to receive counselling, and often only a 6 session program is provided, which simply isn't enough for most people.
Together with the Old Bank Wellbeing Trust they provide professional counselling sessions in a matter of days, with no restriction to the number of sessions provided.
Background - Why am I doing it?
Two years ago I found myself in an immensely difficult situation where I had to escape a harrowing situation that had taken it's toll on me over many years and so I took steps to rebuild my entire life from absolutely nothing! Arguably worse than nothing in fact!
I had nowhere to live, I faced a crippling level of financial debt and all its associated stress. I had gone through and was still going through some of the most difficult times in my life, along with haunting flashbacks from past traumatic events of the suicide of my girlfriend that still often left me overwhelmed with sorrow. Furthermore, during the previous year, I had endured clinical sleep deprivation due to extremely stress inducing circumstances, which along with everything else, led me to moments of ideation of taking my own life. I was at rock bottom!
When I had taken steps to leave absolutely everything in my life behind and start completely new it was extremely difficult. I felt incredibly lost, angry at what had happened having been the victim of some very difficult situations.
But starting anew wasn’t easy either. I ended up having to sleep on the kitchen floor of an old friend who while was open and willing to help. He too was in fact going through immense turmoil himself, so while it was a hugely welcome opportunity to rebuild, it was incredibly unsettled and challenging period.
At times even I would try to get sleep in the back seat of a car in laybys at the side of the road because sometimes that was preferable to being on my friend’s kitchen floor.
I knew I needed to reach out to find a community of support, a group of people who I could confide in to share some of my most difficult moments with to help in my journey of healing through my own mental health crisis. That is where I discovered the incredible group of ManKind, a mental health support group of men initiated by Paul Roskilly and Ian Pickard. My first night there felt like such a breath of fresh air and that a weight had been lifted to release some of the mental and emotional burdens I'd been carrying, some of them for almost 20 years. That was the first turning point in a cascading waterfall of situations that radically changed my life in such a short period of time.
I was able to open up about the suicide of my girlfriend years prior in a way that was incredibly therapeutic to be able to share. Furthermore, to share in an environment where I knew I was safe to share, I knew it was okay, even encouraged to express my emotions and tears so openly. I left the group session on that first night feeling a sense of possibility, kindredness and hope that I hadn't for such a long time.
After that first night, thanks to the support of the group of the wider network that ManKind is a part of, my life turned around extremely quickly in a seemingly miraculous way!
It paved the way into a great job opportunity with one of the leading marketing and PR agencies in the region PRG Marketing Communications.
It opened doors to get accommodation grants to get setup in a lovely flat, and from there, begin rebuilding my life, step-by-step.
Incredibly, because of ManKind's association with the Old Bank Wellbeing Trust I was also able to begin to receive counselling which we immensely valuable to process the traumatic experiences I had gone through of the months and year prior.
I'm hugely grateful for the dedication, support, and phenomenal friendships I built as a result of ManKind.
May they continue and grow in their efforts to be that source of hope for countless men suffering through their dark times.
