In this episode Alice is joined by Paul McGregor who is a Mental Health Speaker, Advocate & Author - he talks with Alice in this interview about Mental Health and the stigma around it, grief, the struggles with both, as well as his own journey with spirituality following the loss of his father.
At 18, Paul's Dad who showed no signs of depression or previous struggles with mental health, who had ‘everything’ on paper, attempted suicide.
His attempt came as a shock to all, but he miraculously survived the accident. And after a few weeks in hospital physically recovering, he was home. But even though at the time his family thought they had escaped a nightmare, things got worse.
And on the 4th March 2009, just 6 months after his first sign of depression Paul's dad took his own life.
Paul believes it's time we spoke openly about mental health, and due to the scary fact that someone ends their own life every 40 seconds it's time we stood up to suicide. 10 years later from that tragic day, he had his struggles suffering in silence and dealing with the grief that followed. But he also went on to run multiple online businesses, became a short course lecturer at The London College of Fashion at just 21, published a book sharing his story and standing up to suicide alongside speaking at many events, he has been featured on The Huffington Post, Sky News, BBC News.
He continues to share his experiences and the experiences of others, standing up to the stigma that surrounds mental health and strive towards early intervention and better support for those who need it.