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Go to P3 HousingAs Mental Health Lead for P3; Stuart talks about his role, journey and aspirations for the future.
Speaking with passion, Stuart talks in the modern fashion – via Teams. Much like the meeting today, his outlook is fresh, modern, and people centred.
He starts by discussing his role as P3 Charity’s Mental Health Lead for Cambridgeshire, something he said was fostered out of his desire to help people within the community as well as his own challenges with mental health.
His primary focus at work and in his personal life is breaking down the stigma that is associated with mental health, even today.
Stuart goes above and beyond in his role, taking on the voluntary addition of Wellbeing and Inclusion champion. His belief that ‘we all carry something with us,’ is what fuels him with a desire to support everyone within his workplace and without need of judgement.
Touched by his own challenges, Stuart lost his mum aged 10, which he believes held a significant impact on his mental health struggles in the past. He recalls how he was lucky to have a strong family support network in the form of his siblings, but how easily somebody could spiral without that unwavering support.
He also recalls a sense of isolation that he associates with his childhood, isolated in his grief but also growing up as a gay man in a rural community. Without a mother to confide in, this only emphasised his feeling of distance.
School was a tough environment for a young gay man twenty years ago, a suppression of self and a struggle with true expression. Now, Stuart uses this as a foundation for his forum to support people struggling with their identity, or for people who don’t have a support system to talk to.
This led him to a career that was all about helping people. He started as a Special Police Constable, dealing with domestic abuse and traumatising challenges for a course of five years.
Touched by other people, he realised he wanted to engage his frontline work in more of a long-term support role rather than a first responder role. His last stint in the police saw him awarded with the Special Police Award for his outstanding service in saving somebody’s life.
This element of saving people was transformed from a physical thing to making tangible difference in people’s lives. He moved to a more educational role, breaching the gap between education and employment.
One common thread throughout his entire career path – helping people with mental health difficulties. Finding his niche, he decided to take a stronger mental health role moving to P3 as Mental Health Lead for Cambridgeshire.
Alongside this, Stuart is a Mental Health First Aider and is an active campaigner for mental health. Utilising support networks, and online communities such as LinkedIn, Stuart is raising awareness in the form of wellbeing walks. Each month he completes a 12-mile walk across different locations in England, ‘each walk is not just a physical challenge but a statement raising awareness, debunking myths, and showing that mental health struggles should never be a source of shame.’
Stuart’s future is bright, he’s career driven and passionate about things that really matter. He stresses that as much as he pushes himself onto different challenges, he will always make sure that the people around him receive support. ‘It is the knowledge that I’m doing something for the better that drives me to move forward.’
