In episode 243 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Melanie Bradley.
Mel is the Founder of ‘Men Against Mountains’ (MAM), a platform and men’s mental health hub which aims to build connections, share men’s stories and allow them to be listened to, heard and feel understood.
Every Sunday, Mel hosts a ‘Sunday Summit Session’ with a different man to share their story.
In this episode we discuss: how and why Mel came to start MAM, why we need to adopt a ‘one-size-fits-one’ approach to men’s mental health and why in her opinion men in the 45+ age bracket are being left out of the men’s mental health conversation.
We then explore the external life events which often cause men to fall into poor mental health such as: unemployment, divorce, parental alienation from their children, financial troubles or something else, and why bland platitudes in the mainstream conversation aren’t going to solve these issues.
For Mel’s mental health we discuss panic attacks which she had in her early-20s and the stigma that existed for issues like this 30 years ago, a few years she spent travelling, motherhood and post-natal depression she went through after the traumatic birth of her first child.
We then discuss her separation from the father of her children after a 20-year relationship and the heartbreak she experienced from it.
After this relationship she entered another one where Mel was domestically abused and we discuss that, chronic pain she lived with which sparked a period of depression for eight years, an addiction to tramadol, suicidality and one big ‘near miss’ attempt which happened after she changed her medication.
We finish by discussing the grief of losing her mother to cancer a few years ago, her recovery and why starting MAM was in her words, ‘my comeback’.
As always, #itsokaytovent
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