Andrew Jenkins

Welcome to episode 180 with Andrew Jenkins, who is a mental health advocate, speaker and star of the hit BBC series The Traitors.

At the age of 21, Andrew was in a car accident that left him pronounced dead at the side of the road.

He spent 5 weeks in a coma and when he woke up, was told that he might not recognise his family or be able to walk.

The impact that this had on his sense of self, his identity and his life in general would lead to more struggles with mental ill health for the next 20 odd years before Andrew was able to get some help and guidance with his mental state and begin to grieve for the life that he believed he had lost.

In this episode I chat to Andrew about his life growing up in Wales before the crash and the immediate aftermath.

We chat about the impact that this event had on his mental health and why he suffered in silence for so many years.

And we chat about how he got help, got better and how this is driving him to do the work that he does now and the impact that this is all having.

Of course, we chat all about The Traitors and about men’s mental health, grief, building self-awareness, how hard it can be to tell your family that you love them but why it’s so, so important.

Andrew is a lovely guy who is determined to make a real difference in the mental health space and he’s been doing incredible work since being on the tele earlier this year.  It was really lovely to chat to him all about it!

Follow him on social media @andrewjenkinsofficial and @strengthinyou.co.uk

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Thanks for listening!