[Applause]
mental illness doesn’t exist thank you
ladies and gentlemen that is the end of
my speech no I’m kidding but what I’m
not kidding about is the opinion that
mental illness doesn’t exist the
viewpoints that we don’t have depression
and the idea that we can just snap out
of it two years ago I made a decision I
was going to die I was going to walk out
of this building stand by the edge of
the road and jump in front of a moving
car for I had depression I could find no
reason to live and I saw it as a death
sentence depression can affect people in
lots of different ways
personally I suffered from insomnia deep
feelings of despair hopelessness anger
and sadness suicidal force I lost
interest in all my favourite hobbies I
stopped going to school because I
couldn’t get out of bed in the morning
and the worst feeling of all nothingness
as if nothing will ever get better and
you’ll be stuck with this horrible
illness for the rest of your life I
remember a conversation I had with my
therapist in which I described being
alive as waiting in a queue in
McDonald’s thankfully my appetite never
suffered because of my depression and
for that I’m thankful everybody’s lined
up waiting to get their food and
gradually people are walking past me
trays filled with Big Macs and boxes of
20 chicken nuggets meanwhile I’m not
going anywhere
although the people in front of me have
moved on with their lives I’m no closer
to the front
I’m just static not moving not going
forward forever
needless to say my brain on depression
was not the nicest place to be something
that always confuses me about mental
illness is the questions that come with
it
why me so which I upend the most
remarkable discussion point depression
is the most liberal individual you’ll
ever meet in your life
it’s truly indiscriminate rich people
have it poor people have it tall people
have it short people have it people of
every ethnic origin group in the world
suffer from mental illness in fact
Stephen Fry JK Rowling Eminem and Dwayne
the rock Johnson’s mother all suffer
from mental illness to one-third of the
people in this room that’s one third of
you will suffer from a mental health
difficulty in your lifetime but the best
thing you can tell any depressive is
that it does get better I’m a living
example of that okay so I’m still on
medication so I’m not perfect so I have
my down moments so I still have
depression but I don’t put my mother in
a state of panic every time I leave the
house with her fearing that I might not
come back and that to me is a victory on
just a more positive stuff things that
help me control my depression medication
I’m currently on 150 milligrams of
sertraline antidepressants and 6
milligrams of melatonin sleeping tablets
when you first start to take
antidepressants people express a fear at
you they change who you are but that’s
just not true if you need them you need
them it’s no different from having high
blood sugar or injecting insulin if
you’ve got diabetes antidepressants
allow me to be me exercise so I joined a
gym and I started attending Park run on
a Saturday morning it’s great exercise
and relief releases endorphins in the
brain which make you happier it’s ties
in nicely with getting outside and being
at one with nature writing things down
when you write things down allows them
to leave your head
and once they’re on paper they no longer
believe to you belong to you sorry this
gives you the opportunity to focus on
the important things in life as well as
expressing yourself completely freely
lastly and the most important thing is
talking to people I remember when I
first told somebody I’d been having
these dark thoughts it was a teacher in
school and I was absolutely terrified
but I wasn’t terrified when I had to
tell my PE teacher that I couldn’t play
rugby because I hurt my back and I
wasn’t terrified when I had to tell my
friends that I couldn’t come to school
because I had a stomach bug mental
illness completely wrongly is a taboo
subject it’s something that we should
all just keep bottled up inside of us we
don’t share it because we’re too afraid
that the people were telling don’t care
and that is the biggest problem in
mental illness by itself when you have
to wait for between 9 to 12 months to
even ever have access to talking
therapies you’re stuck inside of
yourself unable to express yourself stop
with those horrible feelings the key
note of my speech is that I want the
conversation on mental health to take
flight I want the conversation about
mental health to be as easily had as the
conversation about a chest infection
because there is simply no difference
between the two all we really want in
life is to have a friend the saying
you’ve got a friend in me fits
reasonably well I’ve got some homework
for you all tonight that’s right you’ve
come back to school and you’re already
getting homework I want you to go home
some ring text speak face-to-face to a
friend and ask them how are you and then
ask them again how are you really I
wonder if the response will change now
that they know that you’re genuinely
asking and not just saying it’s be
polite because as I said earlier we all
just want friends to be there for us and
I’m incredibly lucky
because I’ve got so many amazing people
in my life and here is a collage of a
load of them the people at the top
that’s mr. tall in a Miss Conway
they basically acted as my brain for at
year 11 because mine wasn’t working
right there’s some way amazing friends
there there’s some friends from my DAV
group Lea Bertram and my amazing
girlfriend in the middle Darius taschek
there’s my family down the bottom
there’s my brother and my sister if my
mum would have let me she would have
been this as well but she probably would
have killed me so I left her out there’s
some animals in there cuz they’re great
to cuddle when you’re feeling bad
there’s me running my friend James
Miller up there so I’ve done some
amazing things that have all helped me
and the amazing people that have helped
me deal with my depression in the last
year things I’ve done that I never
thought I could when I got depression
I’ve gone to a foreign country I’ve
completed my GCSEs with to a stars and
five A’s I’m adapting a production of
the little prince it’s going to be on in
Harlow in 2018 I’ve performed in the
Harley Playhouse in a production of the
railway children I’ve worked in one job
for 11 months I’ve done a TED talk on my
depression I stood in a political debate
on the EU referendum I found somebody
who loves me who I genuinely loved there
and most importantly I stayed alive my
name is William Tennyson and these are
my depression confessions thank you
thank you so hands up who wants to hang
out with will because basically you need
that level of positivity in your life
that was absolutely incredible and I
love I love the fact that even while you
know you can you can talk about
something that lots of people don’t and
lots of people feel embarrass and
exactly what you were saying about you
would say I’ve broken my leg but we
wouldn’t say I’m actually suffering
really badly from depression how would
you encourage just from the statistics
that we know for people in the audience
now people watching how would you
encourage someone who is concerned about
how they feel always constantly filled
with thoughts that are dark but hasn’t
been able to put the word depression to
it or is fearful of what might happen if
they spoke out what would your advice to
them be well when I first realised I had
depression I didn’t know what the word
meant and it was only when I spoke to
this teacher that they mentioned the
word depression to me and suddenly it
all sort of fell into place and so
having that conversation getting those
forts outside of your head and having
someone’s of comment back to you and
have a discussion about how you’re
feeling will definitely help them to
sort of reach your conclusion about
where they are but always seek medical
attention you know doctors are always
there always make the steps if you’re
worried just go and see your doctor
that’s that what they’re there for
and it’s interesting that connection
between kind of education and health
there are two bodies that have a wealth
of experience that can support us and as
of a future labor leader of Parliament I
think and their minds they live down
what do you think our kind of as a
community collectively how do we help
change opinions towards this I think we
need to it’s about the conversation yeah
you know if everybody spoke openly about
it or if we stopped you know judging
people or you know having a negative
reaction then the whole conversation
will change and it’s just about starting
that conversation hello my name is will
and I have depression and yeah I think
some people I think that some of us
certainly haven’t been in education
being a teacher myself there’s that fear
sometimes of I’m not an expert how can I
help but it’s not about being an expert
having a
conversation it’s about being there yeah
well as I said the best thing you can
tell somebody is that it does get better
and everyone can say that yeah well I
don’t know if you know this well but
because of what you’ve done today here’s
another thing to add to your depression
professions because of you being part of
this event today and all of our young
people what we’ve managed to do is to
raise enough money to train 20 teachers
across Harlow to become given mental
health training so that other students
other people like you will be able to
find someone and talk to them and they
will look out for science and that my
friend is on you because of what you did
today because of that commitment you’ve
helped to do that so that is awesome and
it’s been organized by Lisa of whole ed
where’s Lisa is she here you’ve been
quiet you’re making it worse because I
will stand here until I know where
you’re just that that is incredible
because I know for one you know when
will talks and he talks about being able
to speak to people that is amazing to 20
adults that can be available for young
people and that’s on you you’re amazing
well done
[Applause]
mental illness doesn’t exist thank you
ladies and gentlemen that is the end of
my speech no I’m kidding but what I’m
not kidding about is the opinion that
mental illness doesn’t exist the
viewpoints that we don’t have depression
and the idea that we can just snap out
of it two years ago I made a decision I
was going to die I was going to walk out
of this building stand by the edge of
the road and jump in front of a moving
car for I had depression I could find no
reason to live and I saw it as a death
sentence depression can affect people in
lots of different ways
personally I suffered from insomnia deep
feelings of despair hopelessness anger
and sadness suicidal force I lost
interest in all my favourite hobbies I
stopped going to school because I
couldn’t get out of bed in the morning
and the worst feeling of all nothingness
as if nothing will ever get better and
you’ll be stuck with this horrible
illness for the rest of your life I
remember a conversation I had with my
therapist in which I described being
alive as waiting in a queue in
McDonald’s thankfully my appetite never
suffered because of my depression and
for that I’m thankful everybody’s lined
up waiting to get their food and
gradually people are walking past me
trays filled with Big Macs and boxes of
20 chicken nuggets meanwhile I’m not
going anywhere
although the people in front of me have
moved on with their lives I’m no closer
to the front
I’m just static not moving not going
forward forever
needless to say my brain on depression
was not the nicest place to be something
that always confuses me about mental
illness is the questions that come with
it
why me so which I upend the most
remarkable discussion point depression
is the most liberal individual you’ll
ever meet in your life
it’s truly indiscriminate rich people
have it poor people have it tall people
have it short people have it people of
every ethnic origin group in the world
suffer from mental illness in fact
Stephen Fry JK Rowling Eminem and Dwayne
the rock Johnson’s mother all suffer
from mental illness to one-third of the
people in this room that’s one third of
you will suffer from a mental health
difficulty in your lifetime but the best
thing you can tell any depressive is
that it does get better I’m a living
example of that okay so I’m still on
medication so I’m not perfect so I have
my down moments so I still have
depression but I don’t put my mother in
a state of panic every time I leave the
house with her fearing that I might not
come back and that to me is a victory on
just a more positive stuff things that
help me control my depression medication
I’m currently on 150 milligrams of
sertraline antidepressants and 6
milligrams of melatonin sleeping tablets
when you first start to take
antidepressants people express a fear at
you they change who you are but that’s
just not true if you need them you need
them it’s no different from having high
blood sugar or injecting insulin if
you’ve got diabetes antidepressants
allow me to be me exercise so I joined a
gym and I started attending Park run on
a Saturday morning it’s great exercise
and relief releases endorphins in the
brain which make you happier it’s ties
in nicely with getting outside and being
at one with nature writing things down
when you write things down allows them
to leave your head
and once they’re on paper they no longer
believe to you belong to you sorry this
gives you the opportunity to focus on
the important things in life as well as
expressing yourself completely freely
lastly and the most important thing is
talking to people I remember when I
first told somebody I’d been having
these dark thoughts it was a teacher in
school and I was absolutely terrified
but I wasn’t terrified when I had to
tell my PE teacher that I couldn’t play
rugby because I hurt my back and I
wasn’t terrified when I had to tell my
friends that I couldn’t come to school
because I had a stomach bug mental
illness completely wrongly is a taboo
subject it’s something that we should
all just keep bottled up inside of us we
don’t share it because we’re too afraid
that the people were telling don’t care
and that is the biggest problem in
mental illness by itself when you have
to wait for between 9 to 12 months to
even ever have access to talking
therapies you’re stuck inside of
yourself unable to express yourself stop
with those horrible feelings the key
note of my speech is that I want the
conversation on mental health to take
flight I want the conversation about
mental health to be as easily had as the
conversation about a chest infection
because there is simply no difference
between the two all we really want in
life is to have a friend the saying
you’ve got a friend in me fits
reasonably well I’ve got some homework
for you all tonight that’s right you’ve
come back to school and you’re already
getting homework I want you to go home
some ring text speak face-to-face to a
friend and ask them how are you and then
ask them again how are you really I
wonder if the response will change now
that they know that you’re genuinely
asking and not just saying it’s be
polite because as I said earlier we all
just want friends to be there for us and
I’m incredibly lucky
because I’ve got so many amazing people
in my life and here is a collage of a
load of them the people at the top
that’s mr. tall in a Miss Conway
they basically acted as my brain for at
year 11 because mine wasn’t working
right there’s some way amazing friends
there there’s some friends from my DAV
group Lea Bertram and my amazing
girlfriend in the middle Darius taschek
there’s my family down the bottom
there’s my brother and my sister if my
mum would have let me she would have
been this as well but she probably would
have killed me so I left her out there’s
some animals in there cuz they’re great
to cuddle when you’re feeling bad
there’s me running my friend James
Miller up there so I’ve done some
amazing things that have all helped me
and the amazing people that have helped
me deal with my depression in the last
year things I’ve done that I never
thought I could when I got depression
I’ve gone to a foreign country I’ve
completed my GCSEs with to a stars and
five A’s I’m adapting a production of
the little prince it’s going to be on in
Harlow in 2018 I’ve performed in the
Harley Playhouse in a production of the
railway children I’ve worked in one job
for 11 months I’ve done a TED talk on my
depression I stood in a political debate
on the EU referendum I found somebody
who loves me who I genuinely loved there
and most importantly I stayed alive my
name is William Tennyson and these are
my depression confessions thank you
thank you so hands up who wants to hang
out with will because basically you need
that level of positivity in your life
that was absolutely incredible and I
love I love the fact that even while you
know you can you can talk about
something that lots of people don’t and
lots of people feel embarrass and
exactly what you were saying about you
would say I’ve broken my leg but we
wouldn’t say I’m actually suffering
really badly from depression how would
you encourage just from the statistics
that we know for people in the audience
now people watching how would you
encourage someone who is concerned about
how they feel always constantly filled
with thoughts that are dark but hasn’t
been able to put the word depression to
it or is fearful of what might happen if
they spoke out what would your advice to
them be well when I first realised I had
depression I didn’t know what the word
meant and it was only when I spoke to
this teacher that they mentioned the
word depression to me and suddenly it
all sort of fell into place and so
having that conversation getting those
forts outside of your head and having
someone’s of comment back to you and
have a discussion about how you’re
feeling will definitely help them to
sort of reach your conclusion about
where they are but always seek medical
attention you know doctors are always
there always make the steps if you’re
worried just go and see your doctor
that’s that what they’re there for
and it’s interesting that connection
between kind of education and health
there are two bodies that have a wealth
of experience that can support us and as
of a future labor leader of Parliament I
think and their minds they live down
what do you think our kind of as a
community collectively how do we help
change opinions towards this I think we
need to it’s about the conversation yeah
you know if everybody spoke openly about
it or if we stopped you know judging
people or you know having a negative
reaction then the whole conversation
will change and it’s just about starting
that conversation hello my name is will
and I have depression and yeah I think
some people I think that some of us
certainly haven’t been in education
being a teacher myself there’s that fear
sometimes of I’m not an expert how can I
help but it’s not about being an expert
having a
conversation it’s about being there yeah
well as I said the best thing you can
tell somebody is that it does get better
and everyone can say that yeah well I
don’t know if you know this well but
because of what you’ve done today here’s
another thing to add to your depression
professions because of you being part of
this event today and all of our young
people what we’ve managed to do is to
raise enough money to train 20 teachers
across Harlow to become given mental
health training so that other students
other people like you will be able to
find someone and talk to them and they
will look out for science and that my
friend is on you because of what you did
today because of that commitment you’ve
helped to do that so that is awesome and
it’s been organized by Lisa of whole ed
where’s Lisa is she here you’ve been
quiet you’re making it worse because I
will stand here until I know where
you’re just that that is incredible
because I know for one you know when
will talks and he talks about being able
to speak to people that is amazing to 20
adults that can be available for young
people and that’s on you you’re amazing
well done
[Applause]
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