Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/…/chit-chat-the-men…/id1490028846
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/37of9plX1dJqjFRQ30gtk1
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/chitchatmentalhealth
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/chit-chat-the-mental-health-podcast
TuneIn Radio: http://tun.in/pjFcY
Glen’s Story (Co-Founder of Chit Chat):
Where do I begin, how can i express how mental health has affected me throughout my life. These are just some of the things that has shaped my life, my soul and has made me the person I am today.
From a very early age I was embroiled in a life of trauma, violence and tragedy. My father, god rest his soul was a registered schizophrenic and although I know he loved me he spent most of his early life in mental institutions and when he was at home he was a violent man who ruled our home with an iron fist, you had to be strong to survive.
Growing up in a poor family where having enough to eat was a daily struggle, a typical school day was met by bullies who beat me, life as a child was hard, but the lessons learned were momentous.
As I grew into a young man I realised that the only way to move forward was to be kind to others, forgive those bullies, accept my dad couldn’t help the way he was and respect my mother for holding our family together.
Before I was 17 I’d witnessed the death of a friend, lost a cousin who lived with us in a fatal car accident, dealt with childhood trauma and those school bullies.
Cancer struck my family in my 20’s losing my mother-in-law and su***de touched me in my 30’s when my father-in-law took his own life, in my 40’s my son was nearly taken away from me in a fatal car crash. I’m now in my 50’s and you’ll be pleased to know I’m still here fighting my demons and living my life the only way I know how, one day at a time.
All these things shaped my life and made me stronger.
Please understand my mental health has suffered because of all of these things, you won’t have seen it, or heard about it because to most people it’s invisible.
The idea of Chit Chat is to bring together anyone who’s suffered with their mental health for a social get together each Monday evening at Bedfords Bar, where everyone can feel comfortable and at ease in the knowledge they are not alone.
