In episode 314 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Loti Diangana-Nambombe.
Loti works as Charity Lead for the Make Life Kind Foundation (MILK).
He also works as Relationship Manager for MILK’s education programme, MILK Unbottled.
MILK Unbottled partner with youth clubs, football clubs, community hubs, and local organisations across the UK to deliver powerful youth workshops and talks that tackle real-world challenges.
They address critical issues such as knife crime, misogyny, social media, anti-racism, body confidence and rising mental health concerns.
Loti started working for MILK six years ago when the Foundation’s owner Emma Walsh came across posts he was writing on LinkedIn about his mental health journey.
In this episode we first discuss Loti’s mental health journey, which began when he was born in Angola and then moved to Belgium as a baby where he lived until he was 10 years old.
He then moved to the UK in 1998, specifically London where he lived in a variety of places in London, before moving permanently to Manchester in 2000 where he lived for the next 25 years.
During childhood, his father was an authoritative figure and beat Loti regularly.
These experiences and the lack of love he felt for and from his father traumatised him and in his words, was the catalyst for his mental health struggles.
When he was 15, he visited his GP to disclose his mental health difficulties and at 17 was prescribed antidepressants for the first time.
Growing up, people often said he had a personality disorder but he always laughed them off as jokes.
As he became an adult, he began to use alcohol as a coping mechanism, and it soon became an addiction.
He had become a father by this point, and had separated from the mother of his child, with his addiction causing massive damage to the relationships around him.
In 2019 the addiction and his mental health difficulties spiralled and resulted in a breakdown. On 11th January of that year, he went to the gym one day like normal, but then proceeded to go to a place where he could take his own life.
Thankfully, Loti did not go through with that plan and he is here today to check in with me.
In March 2020, he was formally diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and from there, he began his mental health recovery.
In this episode we chart that mental health journey, from Angola to the UK, fatherhood, addiction, BPD and everything in-between.
We then discuss the brilliant work he does with MILK, the work they do with young people and the impact they have, becoming a role-model for young men and how he adapted to that, given his childhood with his own father.
As always, #itsokaytovent
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