Morgan's story

At 17, Morgan struggled with his studies and began drinking heavily – he felt the decisions he made when he felt low at that age had ruined the course of his life. After talking and sharing his feelings, Morgan was able to realise he wasn’t alone.

“Most of my mental health struggles were around ten years ago, in 2011/12. I know a lot of young men worry about what they might do with their life. You’re coming towards the end of education where you’ve had to go every day and you need to begin making your own decisions – decisions that might impact the rest of your life potentially. Or rather you think the decisions you make will define the rest of your life. Of course, they might affect the next few years of your life and you can change your mind with time. But you perceive that time to be the most important and you’ll never be able to turn back from those decisions.

“That was where it started for me – the first year of sixth form. It caused some issues with my educational attainment. I had a block going from AS to A levels. I was conflicted, my life suddenly felt aimless and directionless. Things started becoming very difficult. I stopped going to school and I was at the pub four to five times a week. I was really struggling. I felt so alone in what I was feeling.

“It wasn’t until that stage that anything was picked up for me. I found it easier to talk to a complete stranger. There was no judgement. It wasn’t until I spoke to someone that I realised I wasn’t alone in how I was feeling. Without opening up, and sharing my feelings, I wouldn’t have seen the wood from the trees or gained any sense of perspective. It was speaking to someone else about things that helped me see that I wasn’t unique in how I was feeling.

“From there it was a bit of a tough period of trying to get through my A levels. I took some time out and worked in Australia for a while. I went to university and began to slowly put my life back together. I had to take a more convoluted route. But where I am now is one of the final stages for me.

“A lot of it comes from perspective of the world. I had an extremely happy upbringing with a lot of privilege. When you’re that age with no responsibilities, there is only space to focus on decisions and it meant I catastrophised and felt the decisions I was making at that point would define the rest of my life.”

"I grew up on a family farm. A few key things can have a big impact on mental health in rural communities - one of those is facing the death of livestock, which at certain times of the year can be part of your life every day. The family farm lambs in January and March. Lambing is a time of year that can be draining and if you have bad weather it means you may have to deal with large lambing losses and as a result, you can suffer physically, mentally and emotionally.

“I spoke to a family member during Covid after they had had a particularly bad night losing livestock and it really takes its toll on you. On the flip side, there’s nothing better than seeing a ewe and her lambs in a field together in the spring sunshine. It means the weather can have a massive impact on your mental health, both positively and negatively.

“And similarly, at harvest time, even if you are well connected, the hours are long. You will spend a lot of time working on your own – in the combine or hauling grain. Depending on the farm, you’ll often spend most of your waking hours alone. We are social creatures and at harvest time it can be difficult to fulfil that need. However, you do get the opportunity to spend time with like-minded individuals, for example, if you are silage contracting. You also get to see the summer sunrise and sunset and listen to birdsong fill the air when there are no other sounds for miles around and that can be refreshing.

"Some people get through it, but many others struggle on their own for years. How can we tackle mental health stigma if we don’t talk about it openly and honestly?”