Bryan Clover, ceo of industry charity, The Rainy Day Trust has made an impassioned plea for those suffering from stress and anxiety to seek help rather than ‘struggle on in silence.’ The charity provides free telephone counseling as well as free debt advice, an hour’s free legal advice, housing advice and support for those affected by cancer.
Bryan points out: “From a mental health perspective, arranging a face to face counselling session can be difficult fitting in with work commitments, so telephone counselling is really flexible. We give five free 30-minute sessions over the telephone. If at the end of that you want more, just ask. Or if you need face-to-face counselling, we can pay for that if you can’t afford it or can’t find a charity that can give it locally.”
Recognising that “the effect of stress and anxiety in their various forms has a huge impact on our lives, and as importantly on our livelihoods,” Bryan acknowledges that: “The pressure of work, family problems, bereavement, finding sufficient work all add up to a pretty unhealthy atmosphere. If our brains are diverted from the day job, we don’t function properly and our work is affected.” He adds: “That can lead to some pretty one-sided conversations with managers which, ironically, just make everything worse.”
Bryan also speaks of his own experiences, and the impact of recent counselling on his life. Tragically, Bryan’s 13-year old daughter, Evie died on January 11 this year. She had started to get headaches in October 2017, which the doctor had said were “just puberty-related migraines.” Soon after arriving in Spain for a family holiday, Evie was admitted to hospital for an emergency operation to remove part of a massive brain tumour. Evie then spent a month in the Bristol Royal Children’s Hospital, and six weeks at home before she died.
“The emotional trauma that we went through, and are still going through, has led to an enormous amount of stress. So much so that many months later I am still not functioning properly; my brain is constantly questioning what happened and asking ‘Why?’ I’m exhausted all the time and don’t sleep,” admits Bryan, who explains that: “Without the support of our GP and months of counselling, I wouldn’t be functioning at all.”
He emphasises: “It affects work, home life, everything. But I recognised early on that something was wrong and asked for help.”
Bryan urges anyone working in the housewares industry that is experiencing stress or anxiety to seek help rather than “bottle it all up and pretend the problem doesn’t exist.” He states: “Tackle it now and get your life back. Take it from someone who has experienced the most horrific year possible: you don’t have to deal with stress or mental health issues alone, and neither should you.”
To find out more about how the charity can help, see www.rainydaytrust.org.uk or call The Rainy Day Trust on 0203 192 0486.
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