Ground zero life without limits

Andrew Phillips
Ground zero life without limits Podcast

Mental health awareness and fitness based

  1. Dean Clarke Athlete personal trainer

    12/05/2020

    Dean Clarke Athlete personal trainer

    Hi, I’m Dean, a qualified personal trainer and coach based in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. My purpose in life is to help people thrive in thieirs. But first, I want to tell you how I came to this realisation and about my personal journey to get to this point in my life. I’m an ex-British soldier. I joined the army when I was 16 and served for 8 years, in a reconnaissance regiment completing tours of Afghanistan and Iraq. The first year after leaving the army was a challenging and dark time for me, my mental health rapidly declined, and I lost a lot of stability in my life. This sent me into a spiral of self-harm, drugs and alcohol in order to cope & attempted suicide. Back then, I perfected a smile. I learnt to hide the way I felt. But inside was a different story altogether. Inside, I was struggling. The illness was slowly ruining my life, but no one around me knew - I had fooled them into thinking I was fine. In 2016 I attempted to take my own life. I couldn’t see a way out, there was no light at the end of my tunnel, and I could no longer cope. After being discharged, and still struggling with depression, I attempted to end my life for a second time. I was really struggling to cope. Image I was then diagnosed with Bipolar disorder and PTSD. After the shock of my diagnosis I had to learn, adapt and also come to terms with it so I began to channel my energy into awareness, from social media to public speaking, sharing my story and showing that even people like me - a 6 foot 4 tall ex-army soldier, man - needs help. Now, the stigma surrounding mental health is something that I am incredibly passionate about and my motivation is to work towards raising awareness.

    1h 2m

About

Mental health awareness and fitness based

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes and get the latest updates.

Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada