"People are frightened of speaking about suicide"

He also speaks to families who have been impacted by suicide as properly as strangers in the street about their own experiences of psychological health concerns.

“I actually just desired to raise awareness of suicide,” says Benjamin, who now operates complete-time for Rethink Mental Wellness, ahead of the documentary’s release. “People are scared of tackling it. There’s a myth that it will encourage folks who are vulnerable to take their lives. It is an concern we tend to disregard as a society, regardless of the fact that it will take sixteen lives a day in this country.”

He adds that the price of suicide among men has remained unchanged more than the final 30 many years - with suicide at the moment the largest killer of youthful males in the United kingdom – even though the fee between the female population has decreased by almost 50 per cent over the same period.

So why are guys so vulnerable? “It’s the culture of getting to ‘man up’, of not becoming capable to express your feelings,” the 27-yr-old says. He began encountering signs and symptoms of schizophrenia, such as hearing voices, at the age of 10 and signs of depression from 16, but says he was also embarrassed to ask for assist. “I believe it comes down to training in college. There’s a lack of psychological wellness training.

“Growing up, the only time I ever saw men show their emotion, the only time I noticed males cry, was when I went with my dad to observe Crystal Palace perform football. It is really odd that you can be who you are when you enter a stadium, but as quickly as you step out you have to bottle it up yet again.

“It would have produced this kind of a variation to me if someone had come into school and explained it is Ok to struggle, that males do have these ideas.”

Benjamin also thinks major alterations need to have to be manufactured to the way the NHS responds to psychological wellness concerns. When he initial went to see his GP as a student at Manchester Metropolitan University, she advised he change his diet and do far more exercising. He felt like his depression was not taken critically ample and was apprehensive about searching for assist once again.

Then, in his last 12 months of university he had a breakdown and had to be hospitalised. “By this point I was genuinely unwell. I believed I was currently being possessed by the devil one evening I ran out onto a dual carriageway I was out of management.”

He urges anyone struggling with suicidal thoughts or depression to confide in a person about it – no matter whether this is a family members member, a medical skilled or a helpline volunteer. Benjamin himself has felt suicidal on a variety of occasions because that morning on Waterloo Bridge, but says he has been able to get through this by speaking to pals or just creating his ideas down.

Now, though, the Londoner feels his depression is behind him and manages his schizophrenia not with medication – which was creating him feel tired and numb – but by means of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and mindfulness, a technique which focuses on residing in the current.

And he stays buddies with Neil Laybourn, the “Mike” he located earlier this year. “I was so nervous just before meeting him,” Benjamin remembers of their first experience in a room over a Vauxhall pub. “But he actually put me at ease. As quickly as I began talking to him it was like we have been extended misplaced close friends.

“We grew up in comparable regions of north London and we have buddies like each other in our social groups. I see him every single number of weeks and we usually have a very good laugh – though certainly I’ll in no way overlook what he did for me.”

Watch the full documentary from 7pm on Thursday 29 May at rethink.org/findmike

"People are frightened of speaking about suicide"