Today’s #SameHere🤙 is someone I’ve been excited to announce for a while now: Pat Lawson & here’s why:
Yes, Pat has an incredible story of perseverance like many we’ve shared, but, additionally, he has put his experience now into action, to help others. His organization out of Australia is called 3Words, & those three words are “I Need Help.” He is proving there is no shame in saying them.
I’m so impressed by Patrick, his organization, his messages, his thousands of followers on Fbook, that @3Words is now the first organization I’ve asked to be a member of our #SameHere🤙Support Alliance. Yes, we have a Celeb, Influencer, Practitioner, Advocate, Everyday Hero, & Student Alliance. However, what’s been missing is a group of other organizations/nonprofits coming together under a #SameHere🤙 message, while still maintaining their own unique brand identity.
Chronologically, this makes sense: we can all say #SameHere🤙 that we’re part of the same tribe, but in the case of Patrick’s group, the next step is: Those Three Words you can say to get help! We’ll look to add other groups that align w the values of 3Wlrds & WAALC, in time. For now, please help us welcome our friends over in Oz to our Alliance! Here is a bit of Patrick’s story & a video about his story is in our profile.
“I know what it is like to be in a place of total darkness. I knew how to hide it as well.
Growing up in Australia, I was a happy go lucky kid & as I grew up was always the life of the party. I met my wife Cara when we were 21 & was so good at concealing my pain that Cara had no idea of the severe depression I was struggling with. Nobody knew – my parents didn’t know, my sisters had no idea & none of my friends had a clue that behind the happy exterior was a man who was dealing w some heavy demons.
I wore a mask to hide my conditions, which is how nobody had any idea I was depressed. I never showed any symptoms of being unhappy, so how would anyone know? However, I was constantly fighting w my head & suicidal ideations, however, it was never a plan, until one day in 2015.
At 30 years old, I tried to take my own life. I said goodbye to my wife & kids, all the while thinking it was his final goodbye to them. Luckily, I had a moment of clarity & broke down & didn’t go through with it. When I went home & told my wife what I had tried to do, she was devastated & angry because it was such a shock to her. When we spoke about what happened Cara then understood I was suffering & needed help.
She had been completely blindsided as I didn’t show any signs or symptoms of being depressed or suicidal.
When I was taken to the hospital following a major anxiety attack, that was the moment I knew I needed to talk to people about MH, & this is how 3Words Mental Health Awareness came about. I wanted to start a platform to raise awareness, especially for men, about how important it is to talk about their MH & that it isn’t a sign of weakness,
I’ve been featured in the movie Suicide The Ripple Effect & have traveled around America with MH advocate, Kevin Hines, talking about my story & delivering messages of hope.
I am a passionate MH advocate who believes that people need to hear from those with lived experience & been in an incredibly dark place.
I founded 3Words in September 2015 to get this message out to others, & our page has grown organically over 6k followers, & I now have two of my best friends who are also MH advocates with lived experiences helping me run it, Erin Macauley & Hayley Fisher, who both have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to MH.
I’ve been an advocate for WAAALC along with Erin, as she introduced me to the organization & we are so excited to now join up in this #SameHere🤙 Support Alliance & start recruiting other groups. We all share the same thoughts about MH & how important it is to do something different than what’s been traditionally done, to change the way it is viewed in society & to let people know they aren’t alone.”
