MENDABLE VIP

I'm a 20 years old and had to build resilience through challenges. 

From the age of 4 I didn't have the typical upbringing, my parents got divorced so I, along with my 2 older brothers was raised by my mother on her own. I rarely saw my dad as throughout my childhood he moved around a lot and at one point became homeless for a year before being housed by the council due to health complications.

When i was 13 my dad first got diagnosed (and treated for Cancer), me and my brothers went out for a meal with him (nothing seemed out of the ordinary as it was coming up to his birthday). Something felt different/off about how he was acting but I wouldn't find out the true reason why until a few months later. It turned out that that meal at the start of May 2015 could've been the last time i saw my dad as a few month later he was going to be undergoing surgery for his cancer. The doctors had said that he was unlikely to pull through it (but he did) and therefore the meal was for him to see us for the last time. 

Just over 1 year later in September 2016 the next challenge awaited. My uncle (mum's Step-brother) took his own life. The struggle and pain just got too much for him and he decided he couldn't do it anymore. All this on a day where we (me and one of my brothers) were due to go out to a live event with our dad. This meant we had to make the decision to "hide" it from our dad "forget" it just for a few hours and enjoy the event or cancel on him (less than 1hr before he was supposed to pick us up) so we could have time to grieve etc. We collectively decided that because this event was something that was planned for months (and our dad was REALLY looking forward to it) that we would go and not tell our dad what had happened (he found out/ we told him in that December).

In November 2016, I went to the doctors struggling immensely with my mental health just to be turned away "because I was too young" (at 15) and so began the long, hard process of fighting (undiagnosed) mental health disorders on my own, whilst supporting my relatives through their grief too. Its safe to say that my family was my main priority and I focused on their healing as opposed to my own. 

This amongst other family losses, court cases, other family drama/issues etc. led to me attempting to take my own life 4 times over a 3 year period with the final one in July 2020 after finding out that my dad had been diagnosed with cancer again (and losing my job at the time).

I then started a transition into becoming a Personal development coach (qualifying 1 year ago yesterday- 12/07/22🎉). Through all of these challenges i have found my passion and purpose and am now helping other people (particularly young people) through these challenges and using my pain for purpose. 

I was introduced to the mendable family in May 2021 and I can truly say it IS a family. We are there for each other in the bad/hard times and the good times, we support each other and celebrate each other and I am so thankful that I was introduced to everyone and welcomed with open arms to everyone. This really is a mental health movement that is and will make a HUGE difference in mental health as a whole especially for men. This is going to reduce the stigma around mental health so much because it give EVERYONE a voice and a place to talk openly and honestly about whatever is on their minds. 

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Thank you all for reading this far.

Love to you all Mendable family