For some time now I’ve been ignoring my issues of poor mental health. Hiding it upon layers of compartmentalisation and with the help of alcohol. This year I started cognitive behavioral therapy and have since seen a psychotherapist and my outlook has changed immensely since

This week as part of International Men’s Day it was a honour and a privilege to be asked to speak at the Ministry of Justice about this. They had an forum discussion on breaking the stigma of mental health. I spoke about my personal experiences of dealing with depression, seeking help and also about two of my colleagues who recently committed suicide

Also on the panel were other civil servant sharing their stories, as well as case workers from the St Giles Trust who have had first hand experience in dealing with youth within the criminal justice system and those who have been victims of crime and have suffered from mental health issues and a CBT therapist from the employee assistance program

It was a great day and very cathartic to speak about the challenges I’m going through in the knowledge it could possibly help somebody else