A Mental Health Story: Negative to Positive

© 2013 by Mark Williams. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 07/29/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4817-7613-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-7614-1 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

INTRODUCTION

A man, who can’t see any light, will find it harder

to see his future . . .

Thank you for buying this book firstly and secondly if you are just waiting for the bus then go on buy it. Hopefully this book will be on a stand in the future or it would be fantastic if it was in every prison or shelter that helps people who have become homelessness. One thing that I am proud to say is that I have had many people come up to me, and to start talking due to the fact they know that my family have gone through hard times and have come out the other end.

My first book was called Reaching Out, and just to warn you that there are many chapters taken from that book. The reason is that a big part of my mental health was surrounded during that time. So why write another? The reason was that people were saying that you have turned something that was horrible and what people say are afraid to talk into a positive. And I can honestly say that anyone can turn any negative into positive if they want to in their lives.

While your reading this book you must remember that the wording will not always be in the best English grammar, when I did that after someone proofed it they said it was better when I wrote it as it was me coming out of the page. And that’s all I am is me, someone who left school at 15 and now have turned something from my own negative experience in a fantastic journey that makes me what to get out of bed even more every morning.

At the time it was and up to the last few months of writing this book, a terrible time in our families’ life. Even when all the good things were happing, things were unsettled and were putting a brave face on in my workplace and to my friends. I am still on medication as I write this and now if there is a time to come off the medication which I now consider that helps to keep my mood settled and helps me thinkI will jump on to it with two hands. If you ask me if I wish I never had it, I can honestly say I’m glad I’ve experienced mental health.

I have learned more about myself, and have seen things now clearer and value things in a better light. Trust me Money means nothing when you see someone you love going through this illness, and when your mind is racing and you can’t get it to stop that another one. Even working on the hospital ward I have witnessed things that the outside world will never see in their lifetimes. It’s so easy to judge and I’ve found that until you’re going through something only they will truly know how it feels. I also feel that we must also take reasonability our selves. It is impossible to change another person, we can put the tools and give them inspiration but honestly only people themselves can change how they want to live.

I have come across people who encounter horrible childhoods, and some with little and are more affected in their lives than the other person. I feel that it must come within us to do something about our lives. We can see it from the outside sometimes, but it’s them who needs to take the first steps. If you name me one person who never encounter failure until he was successful than please tell me. It’s about taking the punches and getting back and fight. Some people I know have fought mental health, and that’s works for them. Like the fantastic book I had a Black Dog by Matthew Johnson.

Remember one in four have a mental health illness in their lifetime, and the way we deal with mental health unless we talk about it sooner and quicker that will number will be two in four, three in four or maybe four in four. If you have overcome a mental health issue or have fully recovered from any illness, have a think about this while reading my book. When you were going through the journey and the darkness would you have liked to talk to someone who have experienced the same illness in what ever that may be, if so once you put down this book go and get a pen and paper and put your knowledge and experience to good use. As I wish I had me to talk to when I was feeling lonely and low.

Make a change, make it today…

CHAPTER 1

Something happens . . . to all of us.

Many reasons why I wanted to write this book, but one was I wanted to show people who are finding hard times that something positive can come out of a negative situation. It was after doing a talk in a homeless shelter that I realized when so many people came up to me, with vast amount of knowledge mental health and of how they once had done well and now ended up in their situation. I learned a lot off them that day, just talking briefly to them. It made me what to say to people that something good can come out of something bad. Many people have been told that they can’t do this or can’t do that, but I know that if we believe that and have been told that many times our inner self belief system will take that on board. Were in a world that is full of pressures, that our bodies are not meant to be able handle in this modern day life. I know that sometimes the best people to learn off, are sometimes the people who have been there and have come out the other side.

I am no one special, and I am certainly not going to tell you anything that hasn’t been done before. But what I will tell you that everyone has a story, and to come out the other side and use the heartaches to good use can be inspirational. My story is a simple one, and hope that you can see that you can turn a negative into a positive if I can do it I certainly know you can too.

I was born in a welsh mining valley, in which I am still very much part of the community today. Being brought up in the valley is something I can never forget. The smell of the ferns in the summer, to the pits bringing up the coal in the winter. Where I live is near where the great Olympic long jumper Lynn the Leap Davies who won a Gold Medal at the 1964 Olympic games. Also Windsor Davies who starred in ain’t half hot mum! Who actually studied at Ogmore Grammar school.

Many heroes have walked along the roads of our valley, men who dug from the pits and earned their living the hard way. All my family had once gone underground, and my father has always said would go down there again. I know it was the banter and the togetherness that he enjoyed, something is largely missed today. Many times I used to sit in the car with my mother, waiting for my father to come from underground. My mother trained to be a mental health nurse, until she had the best thing in the world… Me

She would go on to work in the petrol station for the next 30 odd years, as I know she enjoyed talking to people while working there. My uncle and grandfathers also worked underground in Wyndham western collery not far from our house in Hill St formally known as panda st due to panda police cars used to travel up the street most days. So it was a big blow to the family when the miners strike happened in 1984, I was only 10 at the time. Even today I never waste my food due to the impact that it had on our family.

All I remember was happy times, and to see the family going back to work in the next 12 months was a big relief for all of us. It changed our community and I don’t think we have fully recovered as most of the shops have now gone due to people working in other towns and cities. My father had another 2 years or more, but was then made redundant and ended up on the Royal Mail with my uncle. He enjoyed his work, but as much as working underground in the Wyndham Western.

One of the places I would spent most of my childhood would be at the Wyndham Boys Club, it was there after the miners used to put a certain amount of money from their wage pocket to build these projects. Many of the building were build down to the miners, how little they had they still put in from each pay. It was nothing special from the outside, but inside it was a kid’s dream. The cost was little due to the fact it was purely to help children keep out of trouble and to focus on something. It was there that I met Stan the man Norris, who would be such a inspirational person to not only me but so many children in the Ogmore valley. Stan trademark was his hat and his pipe; he looked the same as he did when I first saw to the week before he passed away in 2011. He did nearly 60 years voluntary work at that club, and was awarded the M.B.E by the Queen. I didn’t know then or even after I finished with the club when I was 16 what a massive impact he had on my life. I was so lucky to go back to the club to volunteer alongside him before he passed away, and that morning it felt dark that he was taken away from us.

The club itself was made of three rooms at the time, and mostly I was either in the pool room or downstairs where the table tennis was to be. The other leaders were all volunteers and the club was always short on funding, but every year the committee would make sure the club would never close. In 2013 it would have been opened for the last 75 years, and have kept so many children out of trouble. It upsets me when they cut our funding without knowing what a big impact that club has on the future of our children. Trust me it would only take one child to get involved in trouble and what it would cost the tax payer, it would keep our club open for years and years. Sometimes our club holds in the region of 60 children, and they are getting the confidence where they may not in other places. Like some children don’t get that in school like for me for instance, something that has stuck with me for many years, is when you have a teacher telling you that you would not even get a job when you leave school even through at 14 I had a paper and window cleaning round due the fact my mates were older than me and had jobs and these people you are supposed to put your trust in they’re hands. Even today, I can still remember the way he spoke to me, and looked down on me due to the fact I wasn’t interested in they’re subjects.

Playing for Wales and winning a British title in 1990 was something I will never forget growing up. It was at that moment I knew I could do anything, only if I had the insight to