Mental health issues are everywhere you look; inescapable and yet still so taboo.  What is it that makes it so hard for people to reach out and ask for help? We break our arm, we go to hospital, yet something that affects you all day, every day for the rest of your life is often not addressed, not discussed and not dealt with. 

Australia has one of the highest rates of young male suicide in the world. In the world! The lucky country?  What’s going on? I’ve lost some people close to me recently as a result of suicide.

People I had no idea were struggling. People I saw days before, smiling, laughing and joking. When the black dog comes, there’s nowhere these people think they can turn. In my friend’s cases, help was just around the corner, but they didn’t make it to the end of the street.

If somebody is reading this, thinking to themselves, I’ve had enough, I would plead with them to hold on, battle through, ask for help, live! Because this isn’t a dress rehearsal, this is the main event. You never know what’s around that corner and things can change for the better in a second. You are someone’s reason to live.

— Darren McMullen