Trigger warning -Mention of suicide, bereavement, mental breakdown, self-harm

Thanks to Quinn Brown for writing this and sharing it with me xoxo

Following on from my review of mental health services at university I’ve been looking to get people to talk their experiences and hopefully share their stories. I’ve also been thinking of ways I can try and help people experiencing mental health issues myself both through my blog and other ways. One way you can do this is through podcasts. I know a lot of people who have recently started podcasting for both educational and leisure purposes and honestly all of them are amazing! I don’t think I’m confident enough to start podcasting yet especially with my anxiety and the fact that I’ve only just started writing but there’s definitely something I can learn from the people that already do. One of the people I know is Quinn Brown and he’s been sharing his experiences through his blog and podcasts. You can check out his blog here and search for his podcasts on anchor under: Let’s Talk Mental Health Podcasts. He’s definitely been through similar things to me so it’s amazing he’s been able to share them and let me post them here ❤️

“I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety in 2013 or 2014, I can’t really remember which year it was to be honest but I’ve always suspected it has been longer than that.

Before I came out as trans, I spent my life fighting with myself over my identity and it caused problems for me mentally. But there have been other factors too like losing both my uncle and grandad within a few years of each other and getting bullied at high school too. All of those have combined and left me with depression and anxiety ever since.

I have had suicidal thoughts a lot and I attempted suicide in 2014. I won’t go into details but that was one of many moments where it spurred me to get help. Much more recently, I was taken to hospital after suffering a mental health breakdown which resulted in me hitting my head numerous times on the door, self-harming myself and crying uncontrollably. I then had another a few weeks later though less severe than the first time.

The back-end of last year or perhaps earlier than that, I decided to do a podcast to talk about mental health and I have a fair few episodes up on the podcast which you can find on Anchor. Search for Let’s Talk Mental Health Podcasts. 

I am not quite 100% but I know that by talking about mental illness, I’m breaking barriers and being honest with people and most importantly with myself.”

I’m so pleased that Quinn is the first person to share his story and the work he’s doing on his own blog and podcasts. Again you can check out his blog here: Quinn’s blog and his podcasts are on anchor just search: Let’s Talk Mental Health Podcasts.

I hope more people can share their stories on my blog and if anyone has anything they want to talk or write about then just let me know through any of my social media (on the right and below) or through my email: Spanishtom69@gmail.com . In the meantime I’m writing a review of trans pride so look out for that soon!