{"id":1041,"date":"2019-10-10T10:11:39","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T09:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.advertizer.co.uk\/insight\/?p=1041"},"modified":"2019-10-10T10:17:01","modified_gmt":"2019-10-10T09:17:01","slug":"pure-mental","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.advertizer.co.uk\/insight\/pure-mental\/","title":{"rendered":"Pure Mental"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u201cYou\u2019re a nutter!\u201d Possibly not the best turn of phrase to say to someone who is, among many other massively traumatic life experiences, a survivor of The Clutha Disaster, and subsequently had a breakdown taking him to the brink of suicide\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Anna McGeachie <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before any aspersions are cast, it was used as a term of endearment because he kept going and kept going with life, getting up every day (he went to work the Monday after The Clutha Disaster \u2013 that\u2019s tough), functioning but not actually living, trying to hold it together. Until eventually he just couldn\u2019t anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Byrne, founder of LETs, is thankfully still very much alive and making the most of every day since being diagnosed with Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and overcoming a mental breakdown.
There are, however, many other contributing factors which led Michael to breakdown in 2017; abused as a child both physically and mentally, watching his parents abuse each other, his father brutally murdered, the loss of twins to a miscarriage, and a car crash resulting in a head injury which lead to a suspected stroke. It was this car crash which generated flashbacks to The Clutha disaster \u2013 the devastation, the scenes he witnessed, the people he helped pull out the rubble, the bloodied bodies and the loss of life. This in turn took Michael back to identifying his father\u2019s body after a horrifically brutal attack; the only parts of his body not bruised were the soles of his feet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What followed was a systematic deconstruction of Michael\u2019s private and professional life. At the time he was a company director; a professional, a family man. He had people around him, friends who thought they knew him and a wife and boy who loved and cared for him dearly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a manager trying to force Michael out by any means possible, rather than helping him and offering his and the company\u2019s support, meant that work became yet another trauma to handle on a daily basis. Due to Michael\u2019s actions as a result of his illness, and a lack of support at work, Michael was eventually suspended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To the outsider, Michael\u2019s life had looked \u2018normal\u2019, no one would have known any better. People avoid speaking about mental health issues for fear of embarrassing the sufferer, and the sufferer doesn\u2019t want to ask for help for fear of being seen as not coping – and so the cycle goes on. This is often intensified for men due to societal pressures about how they \u2018should\u2019 behave which have been handed down through generations. To be \u2018the man of the house\u2019, the breadwinner, the protector, the sorter outer and fixer of things, not the one who needs fixed, are common tropes that in the west of Scotland still hold strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is where Michael found himself. Luckily he did speak to someone, eventually, but only after struggling on for years. This is where his road to recovery began. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael has turned his experience into a positive, and is using what he has struggled with to help others. He now facilitates a men\u2019s mental health support group in Glasgow – \u2018Blether With A Brother\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition he has set up LETs \u2013 a company providing a unique and bespoke service to improve the mental health of people within the workplace. (Thus maximising staff wellbeing , productivity and the return on company\u2019s investments.) He has now worked with many companies including RBS, Barclays and Zurich Insurance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With one in four adults experiencing mental illness at some point in their lives, it is not something we should be hiding from or ignoring. It\u2019s time to talk and to listen. Especially you menfolk. #LETsTALK
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To find out more: www.facebook.com\/livedexperiencetraumasupport<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Byrne – a survivor of The Clutha Disaster talks to INSIGHT Magazine about mental health…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18,54,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nPure Mental - INSIGHT<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.advertizer.co.uk\/insight\/pure-mental\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pure Mental - INSIGHT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Michael Byrne - a survivor of The Clutha Disaster talks to INSIGHT Magazine about mental health...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.advertizer.co.uk\/insight\/pure-mental\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"INSIGHT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-10T09:11:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-10-10T09:17:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.advertizer.co.uk\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Michael_Lets-1024x681.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.advertizer.co.uk\/insight\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.advertizer.co.uk\/insight\/\",\"name\":\"INSIGHT\",\"description\":\"A lifestyle magazine connecting readers and businesses across Renfrewshire and Inverclyde\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/www.advertizer.co.uk\/insight\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.advertizer.co.uk\/insight\/pure-mental\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.advertizer.co.uk\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Michael_Lets.jpg\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":998},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.advertizer.co.uk\/insight\/pure-mental\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.advertizer.co.uk\/insight\/pure-mental\/\",\"name\":\"Pure Mental - 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