Going from the brink of suicide to launching his own company to spread mental health awareness, Jonny Benjamin has proven to the world that mental disorders can’t stop you from achieving your goals.
From the age of ten, Benjamin was experiencing issues with his mental health. He went from having auditory hallucinations to developing depression by the age of 16. By the time he was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder he was in his early 20’s and the combination of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia was deluding him to the point where he believed he was in his own version of the film The Truman Show. In early 2008, the extremity of his condition had him hospitalised and questioning the value of his own life. It got to the point where he felt he needed to run away from the hospital, he was later found by a stranger on Waterloo Bridge when he was a step away from suicide. The passer-by managed to talk him out of taking his own life long enough for the emergency services to arrive and return him to the hospital for further treatment.
Since being signed off by his psychiatrist, Jonny has done everything within his power to help eradicate the stigma around mental health disorders. In 2011, he began documenting his experiences in a vlog form, in which he uploaded to YouTube with aims to “reach out to others with mental health difficulties.” He has also released a book of poems that he wrote during his time in hospital, each eye-opening piece manages to encapture the inner workings of a schizophrenic mind. By this point, his YouTube channel was receiving an abundance of positive feedback and he had established himself as a popular and influential mental health campaigner. With his name having such a strong association with mental health, in 2013 Jonny presented a BBC Three documentary on the topic.
In 2014, six years after his suicide attempt, Jonny launched a social media campaign #FindMike. In an attempt to find the stranger who saved his life, Benjamin nicknamed who was later to be recognised as Neil Laybourn in order to find him and thank him whilst simultaneously sharing his mental health journey with the entire world. The hashtag started trending in the UK, Canada, South Africa and Australia with over 300 million people getting involved. The likes of Boy George, Stephen Fry and David Cameron supported the campaign in which successfully united the pair after just two weeks. The world became invested in the story so much so that it was made into a documentary which was released in 2014.
In a bid to bring mental health education into schools, Jonny announced his own company, ThinkWell, in which brings interactive workshops and lessons to young people across the UK. As well as this, he has travelled to India to take his campaign further afield. He documented his trip in which he posted to his YouTube channel that now has over 12 thousand subscribers.
With other achievements including running the London Marathon and publishing his memoir titled The Stranger on the Bridge, Jonny’s efforts have been recognised as he was appointed MBE. He has also been awarded by Rethink Mental Illness with the Janey Antoniou Award.
With an inspiring and empowering story, Jonny has the ability to hold the attention of even the largest audiences and leave them feeling motivated to make a change and become proactive with mental health issues.
