NI man using own story to encourage others to open up about their mental health

A Newtownabbey man has shared the story of his mental health journey to open up the conversation for those suffering in silence and raise money for a charity close to his heart.

Jonathan Round, who was born in England and now lives in Northern Ireland with his wife and son, is using his 20-year battle with his mental health to confront the stigma that surrounds him, particularly after the last two years.

The 39-year-old told Belfast Live how he first noticed things weren’t right when he was just a teenager.

Jonathan said: “The first time something didn’t seem right, I was probably 14 or 15 years old and I had gone camping with some friends for a week and I came back and my older sister was in intensive care. I remember kids being kids in school and lost a lot of myself.

“I never really paid attention to it and put it down to stress and then leaving school and that kind of structure really took a toll on me at 17.

“Lots of friends went to college and university and from time to time, I had some really bad experiences that manifested over a period of about six to 12 months when I was in Donegal. I tried to kill myself four times in that period.

“I was drinking a lot back then to try and fit in with the crowd and then I went to London for work to which I got distracted and had on and off panic attacks for years, it’s an ongoing thing and it never goes away but I’ve learned to deal with it “.

Jonathan has suffered from anxiety and depression for more than half his life and found that playing sports was a way of managing how he felt.

“With my previous job, I was lucky enough to take six months off to be with my son, but with the lockdown last year, that put my head on the side a bit again and I had the worst episode I’ve had in a long time in 2020. . .

“This year my health started to go downhill because I was diagnosed with a heart condition so I had to stop playing Gaelic football,” he explained.

Knowing that there are many others whose mental health has been negatively affected by the pandemic, Jonathon decided to do something to raise awareness and create vital funding for mental health services in Northern Ireland.

To prove that mental illness is “no laughing matter” he is hosting a ‘Stand Up 4 Mental Health’ benefit comedy night in aid of AWARE on March 3rd, showcasing local comedians for some laughs while raising funds and raises awareness about mental problems. Health services.

Jonathan continued: “I think everyone can agree that the last couple of years have been a nightmare and I think we need to laugh – a couple of guys on the football team I started playing for in East Belfast were comedians and I mentioned it to one of the guys this time last year who thought it would be a good idea.

“I decided to reach out to a number of local comedians and realized I might actually be on to something here and thought it would be something different to capture people’s imaginations and raise money for AWARE. The work they do is just phenomenal.”

Jonathan chose AWARE NI because it is the only charity in Northern Ireland working exclusively for depression and bipolar disorder.

“My goal is to raise over £2,000 for charity.

“Going back to the beginning of my journey, my teenage years, I like the fact that they do a lot of work with the younger generation; going back 20 years when I started my journey, things are much better now and people are much more open about talking about these things, but there’s still that stigma around it.

If you would like to purchase tickets to the ‘Stand Up 4 Mental Health’ comedy show at the Ulster Sports Club, look here.