Transcriber: Megan Graham Reviewer: Amanda Zhu
Hello everyone!
(Audience) Hello.
So my name is Matt Campion.
Today I'm here to talk to you, um ...
about the importance of mental health.
And I'm also here
to talk to you about the day that I thought I was going to die.
And at the end of this,
there's something that I need to say to somebody.
Now,
I want to do a little experiment if that's okay with you.
I'd like to ask you,
if you've struggled with your mental health
in the last 24 hours,
could you please raise your hand?
I'm talking about stress, anxiety, depression, panic.
How about in the last week?
The last month?
In the last year?
Brilliant, thank you. You can put your hands down now.
I think the point I'm trying to make
is that I think it's really important to create safe spaces like this
where we can show our vulnerabilities,
And I think for me,
one of the things I've always struggled with
is showing that vulnerability.
Now, I'm looking around at you, in the audience,
and like Jake said,
I think some of you recognize me, don't you?
Yeah, that's right.
I'm Stephen Henwood,
from the iconic TV Drama "Soldier Soldier."
(Sporadic chuckles)
(Roaring laughter)
Alright, alright.
(Laughter)
It's not that funny.
So, as a child I was lucky enough
to be a part of a thing called the ITV Junior Television Workshop.
The workshop was a brilliant place for me to grow up in.
It was a place I used to go every week after school,
the Central Television Studios in Birmingham,
where I was taught how to act in theater, for film, and for television.
And by the time I finished in the workshop,
by the time I was 20 years old,
I was lucky enough to have played in 40 different TV shows.
Now, the reason why I'm telling you that
is not to show off, whoever woo-hooed.
(Laughter)
The reason why I'm telling you that is because I think being in the workshop
taught me to create a mask for myself.
It taught me how to pretend,
to create that pretense.
Because the truth was,
in my childhood,
things were very different back at home.
I grew up with a dad who was an alcoholic and an addict
and had really struggled with his mental health.
And when I was 10 years old -
this is very difficult for me to say -
that I came home to find him
having attempted suicide.
I was 10 years old in this picture.
So just imagine what that was like.
I then spent my teen years
never knowing what that uncertainty would bring
whenever I went home -
whether he'd be drunk.
Would he be hurt? Would he be dead?
And in fact, in my teen years,
I came home and found him
having attempted suicide twice more.
Now, the thing is
that was very traumatic for me as a kid.
And the thing about trauma
is that I think we all bury trauma.
We put it in nice, neat little boxes
and try and hide it away.
And I think being part of the ITV workshop,
doing that acting was something that really helped me do that.
It was part of that mask that I talked about before.
So I was very angry with my dad,
very angry.
And actually,
the trauma, when you think about it,
the thing I've realized as I got older
is that actually trauma eventually has to release itself.
And the anger I had for my dad -
I remember I used to say to myself,
"I am never going to be like this guy."
Whatever I do, I'm never going to fail.
I'm going to be a success; I'm going to tick all those life boxes.
I'm going to have a good career, I'm going to have a good family -
I'm not going to be like him.
So moving into my adult life,
I went to university.
I then started a career in television, behind the scenes,
which I'm sure, you'll agree,
is a great loss to the acting community.
(Laughter)
By the time I was 23,
I was pushing myself really hard.
I became a TV director at the age of 23.
By the time I was 26,
I became an exec producer.
I met a woman, a brilliant woman.
I got married. I had two beautiful kids.
By the age of 30,
I set up my own production company, called "Spirit Media."
I was pushing hard to be the success that he wasn't.
In 2016,
that all changed.
I got approached by the NHS
right here in Brighton and Hove,
along with the YMCA,
to create a campaign
challenging the stigma surrounding mental health
in young people.
And at the time,
I'd been directing the last Rizzle Kicks' music video,
another band that were from Brighton and Hove.
And Jordan, one half of Rizzle Kicks,
had sent me some solo music,
asking me whether I'd consider it for a TV project I was working on.
And I came across this track called "Whole."
And I started listening to it, and it really struck a chord with me.
Here was this young guy
that was openly talking about his struggles with mental health,
his deepest, darkest secrets.
So I asked the NHS,
"Have you ever considered using music and creating a music video
to connect with young people
because, you know, alternatively,
the other option was to put pamphlets in GP surgeries,
which we all know a young person is not going to connect with.
And thankfully, for me, they agreed to do it.
So we had to come up with a creative and a campaign
to surround the project.
Now, I got to the day before the pitch
and, a bit like today's talk, left everything to the last minute,
which doesn't bear well for your mental health.
And the night before,
I decided to listen to that track over and over again.
I must have listened to it maybe 100, 200 times.
And very early the next morning,
I woke up,
and I had this dream.
I had this dream that could we ask people to draw a circle on their hands
and share their mental health struggles online
to challenge the stigma surrounding mental health?
So I texted Jordan really early in the morning.
I said, "Jordan, do me a favor, mate.
Draw a circle on your hands, take a picture of it,
and send it back to me."
And he sent me this.
Now, the circle on Jordan's hand
isn't perfect.
But the circle is something that evokes community and unity.
It's something that is cyclical,
the circle of life -
things will always get better; things will change.
And ultimately, the circle represents
"If you're feeling broken, you are still whole."
So we came up with a hashtag, #IAmWhole.
And on World Mental Health Day,
which is the 10th of October, 2016,
we launched the campaign.
We launched the music video.
We launched the campaign film.
And within two hours,
something unbelievable started to happen.
We were getting thousands and thousands of pictures being uploaded online
with people using the #IAmWhole
and talking about their own mental health struggles.
Celebrities started joining us -
Ed Sheeran and James Corden.
It was honestly incredible.
By 2 p.m., we were mentioned in the Houses of Parliament.
And by the end of the day,
we'd gone from being the small news item in the morning
to being the big news item at the end of the day.
We'd reached over 120 million people.
(Applause)
Now, the thing people didn't know about me
at the time of the campaign
is about two weeks before the campaign launched,
I had a moment where I thought I was going to die.
I was at work. I was finishing an edit.
I was feeling sweaty.
I was short of breath.
I was spinning out.
I decided to go home, from London back to Hove,
to go and see the doctor.
And as I was walking to the train station,
the world completely flipped on me.
I couldn't breathe;
my chest was absolutely bursting through my heart.
As far as I was concerned,
I was having a heart attack -
I would never see my wife and kids again.
It was honestly a very, very scary moment.
So the next thing you know,
I was in an ambulance, and I was taken to a hospital.
And here's me in hospital.
They did my bloods, they did an ECG test,
and it came back that I was fine.
And I was told that, actually, I'd just had my very first panic attack.
Now, the timing of this wasn't a coincidence.
Because, actually, I think, creatively,
to sort of get the campaign to the shape where I wanted it to be,
I had to delve deep back into my life
and think about all those dark times from my childhood.
And also, I was having conversations with other people
about their mental health struggles.
So I don't think it's any coincidence that, you know, this happened.
And I think by this panic attack happening,
what I'd done was I released that trauma
that I'd buried and put in a neat little box
when I was that child back in the '80s.
Now, the panic attacks opened a floodgate,
and for the next 18 months,
I kept having more and more panic attacks -
very, very, very scary.
And if anyone in the room ever suffers from panic attacks,
I completely feel your pain.
So, back at work,
the business is going from strength to strength.
We're winning more TV projects.
"I Am Whole" has now taken on a life of its own.
And we're now heading towards the biggest project
for our business that'd we'd ever achieved.
We were going to put on a music concert
at the Roundhouse in London,
called "Music for Mental Health,"
starring some of the UK's biggest music artists.
Now, at the time,
I hadn't told anyone what was going on,
not openly anyway.
And I was worried, really worried
that people right at the top of my industry
wouldn't trust me to deliver this big project
or any of the other projects I was doing
if I was struggling with mental ... you know.
So I decided not to tell anyone about it.
But then something changed.
We decided to do this podcast called "The Whole Truth."
And "The Whole Truth" is about people,
celebrities, authors, people of influence that have mental health struggles,
to come on this show, hosted by Jordan,
where they talk openly about their mental health struggles.
And I thought to myself,
"Would I be a hypocrite
if I was not able to talk about my own mental health struggles
and I'm here running this campaign?"
So I decided to do the first episode,
which I did.
And you know what? The world didn't cave in on me.
In fact,
some of the biggest names in the industry
reached out to me and said how inspired they were
and shared their own mental health stories with me.
I couldn't believe it.
Now, the point of this talk
is to give you guys a bit of a take away,
and I wish I could tell you that there was one easy fix
when it comes to dealing with mental health struggles.
But unfortunately, we all know there is not.
And there's a few cliches,
but I want to tell you a few of the things that do work for me.
I felt like coffee, caffeine,
was always something that was triggering my panic attacks,
so I cut that out of my diet.
I tried to cut back a bit on the ole booze
because I think, you know, we all use that in times of stress as a coping mechanism.
Sleep - sleep is one of the big things that's really changed for me.
I now try and get, whenever I can, eight hours a night.
And I tell you something - it makes a huge difference.
Mindfulness - I've started using apps,
breathing techniques, trying to be present.
It really, really does make a difference.
But if there's one thing I could say to you all today
that has made the biggest difference,
and even if there's just one person in this room that hears this,
I want you to really, really hear it.
Speak to someone.
Speak to a professional, speak to a family member,
speak to a friend, speak to a stranger.
I cannot tell you how that changed my life when I spoke to someone.
Now, before I finish,
I just want to show you a short film,
to show you what happens
when people come together and challenge stigma.
(Video) Jordan Stephens: Something to be spoken about more regularly,
one campaign, Jor, for you to link it with music
Ready?
Matt Campion: I come across the track "Whole,"
and it just started really striking a chord.
JS: I didn't realize I was writing a song about my own depression until I finished.
Matt just so happened to have been asked
to develop a campaign for the NHS and the YMCA,
battling stigma surrounding mental health in young people.
And then he hits me up, going, "Listen."
MC: Draw a circle on your hand and take a picture of it.
Before we knew it, we were shooting a music video.
And then on World Mental Health Day,
we launched it.
(Music)
We were trending number one on social media,
we were mentioned in House of Parliament.
Headline news by the end of the day.
We'd reached 120 million people worldwide.
Months afterwards,
we were getting pictures from every continent around the world.
More celebrities joined the movement.
It had taken on a life of it's own.
This year, we asked ourselves,
"How do we go bigger?"
JS: And that's when it landed - music is the key.
Music for mental health.
MC: We partnered with three amazing charities.
JS: Then Matt was like, "Who am I going to get for it?"
So I'm like, Ella-Eyre, Professor Green, Olly Murs, James Arthur,
Hussain Manawer, Anne-Marie, Nothing But Thieves, Louis Berry.
And then I asked Ed, and he was like, "Yeah!"
and I was like, "What?!"
(Music Playing)
TV presenter: It is one of the first of its kind.
I had no idea it was going to be this big.
(Music Playing)
Professor Green: It's an honor to be part of such an amazing show.
It's incredible!
Olly Murs: I suffer terribly with anxiety.
Tonight is the first night I've spoken about it.
Girl A: I think it's about sharing and getting support from others.
Man: It makes it a lot easier to talk about.
Girl B: I feel like music can just connect a lot of people."
JS: This is only the beginning.
Step up, and make a real change.
3 ...
2 ...
1 ...
(Spoken all together) I am whole!
Announcer: Ladies and Gentlemen,
make some noise for Ed Sheeran!
(Cheering)
(Applause)
(On stage) MC: Thank you.
Now, at the beginning,
I said there's someone I wanted to say something to
at the end of my talk.
And this is something that I feel only just now
I'm able to do.
Dad, if you ever watch this,
I forgive you.
My name is Matt Campion,
and I am whole.
(Applause) (Cheering)