Mental health snapshot

By Mark Taylor

The mental health crisis many are facing can be viewed as a ticking time bomb that the NHS not only is not ready for, but does not have even a tenth of the capacity required to deal with it. There is much talk about children’s mental health issues. There has been a 77% rise in the number of children needing specialist treatment for severe mental health issues, analysis shows. Some 409,347 under-18s were referred to the NHS in England for specialist care for issues such as suicidal thoughts and self harm between April and October 2021 - that’s half million in seven months! Head teachers also report a huge rise in less severe mental health issues. This is a pending tragedy for the future generation - and as it they have not been through enough!

But what about adult mental health? Men, especially, can be very good at hiding it due to their refusal to accept there is an issue, or the macho culture of being too tough, or too busy, to have such problems. Therefore, we were touched by a mail that came in from a chap called Mark Taylor with a story that is both touching and shocking at the same time. We rarely do this but here’s his mail: “Around 19 months ago my life was turned upside down by a mental breakdown, brought on by the pressure of a new job in sales and sorting care for my elderly mother with dementia. My mum had become bedridden after a nasty fall at home which came with other complications.

I couldn’t take it anymore and took the heartbreaking decision to drive my car to a quiet area where l was going to kill myself as l could see no way out – but life had other plans for me. Whilst my head was over the steering wheel seconds before l was going to drive my car into a wall at high speed, there was a tap on the window and there stood a postman at the window. But not just any old postman, it was actually an old school friend, who persuaded me to go home and talk to my loving partner Annette.

‘I still find it unbelievable. Sometimes I just Google Howard of Pawsland to make sure it’s actually true.

My message to anyone who finds themselves in the same dark place in his life is to talk, talk and talk!! Family, a best friend, or just pick up the the phone up and dial 111, BUT DON’T SUFFER IN SILENCE, LIFE IS TOO PRECIOUS, there is no shame in asking for help believe me, I wish I had opened up earlier before l found myself seconds from death!!”

Annette listened and instead of judging, crying or getting angry, she jumped into action and got me help from the local GP, and very gradually, over time, l began to find my way back to some form of mental and physical normality, but Annette wasn’t finished with the healing process yet, she had a masterstroke up her sleeve - a puppy called Howard!!

The bearded collie pup not only helped my mental and physical well being, he inspired me to write a children’s book about him. Annette persuaded me that these books, that l had actually written on my mobile phone whilst away on a short break to the West Sussex coast may well be good enough to be published. I then went and found an illustrator and was about to self-publish on Amazon, when Annette suggested a shop she thought sold ‘design your own wrapping paper’. What l had actually walked into was a book publisher, and when l mentioned my story and why l had written the book the publisher, who by the way mainly concentrated on train books, read through the synopsis and said ‘if you can put a train in your children’s book we could work together’.

Eight months later after they offered me a six-book deal the first of a series of books l called ‘Howard of Pawsland’ was released, for three to seven yearolds, spreading a message of love, kindness and sustainability.