MENTAL HEALTH
SITE MANAGER AT DESIGNER GROUP, JOHN BLAKE BARES HIS SOUL ON A PERSONAL JOURNEY TO MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS... SURVIVING IRONMAN
A voice from the past provided John Blake with the inspiration. It had reappeared out of the blue on Danny and Mero’s What’s the Story? podcast from south Dublin. It was Saturday, January 6, 2018, and John tuned in to a highly-charged, on- air testimony by stabbing victim Keith Kelly. That day, he found his training accompanied by a voice familiar from his youth, a man he regarded as a bona fide tough guy, only now he was laying bare a descent into mental health hell. Kelly spoke of how surgeons had managed to save his life, to stitch up the five stab wounds he’d received in a vicious
attack on his home a decade earlier, but that had only been the beginning of the battle. Keith Kelly’s Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), as it would later be diagnosed, manifested itself in flashbacks, depression, anxiety, and anger. He attempted to self-medicate with booze, drugs, and the adrenalin rush of gambling. The downward spiral hit rock bottom when he attempted to take his own life. The way back began when an old friend recommended contacting a local charity in south Dublin called Suicide or Survive (SOS). John heard how Suicide or Survive had helped turn Keith’s life around, how he
was now an integral part of the SOS family as it strives to break the stigma of mental illness. Right there and then the former professional goalkeeper found a cause he felt compelled to rally around. A meeting was arranged between the two, the upshot of which was a commitment by John to undertake a demanding Ironman Tour Challenge that would combine his need for a physical challenge with the desire to raise funds for Suicide or Survive. Using your fitness to fatten a local charity’s coffers, what’s not to love about that idea? The irony is not lost on John Blake that in the process of helping Suicide or Survive he was forced to
16 | IRELAND’S ELECTRICAL MAGAZINE
FOLLOW US ON:
www.elecmagazine.com
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online