depression | JC Clapham

Dear parents, please don’t choose to die…

by JC Clapham | Aug 10, 2020 | Life, Mental health, Parenting, The Westsider, Writing | 0 |

*** Content warning: Suicidal themes *** Dear dad or mum to a child or children, Firstly, let me...

Looking forward, looking back. I’ve come a long way down the track

by JC Clapham | Dec 17, 2019 | Featured, Life, Mental health, Parenting, Writing | 0 |

Five years is a brilliant achievement for a printed publication, these days. Let alone one that is...

An appreciation of the winding road.

by JC Clapham | Nov 28, 2019 | Life, Mental health, Writing | 0 |

Yes, I’ve had multiple periods of time where my mental health was quite bad. Yes, I have hit the...

Running for mental health

by JC Clapham | Jul 10, 2019 | Life, Mental health | 0 |

It’s been six years since I did a run of any note. Six years… and during that time...

Like father, like son? No. Not at all.

by JC Clapham | Apr 23, 2019 | Featured, Mental health, Parenting, Writing | 0 |

27 March this year was the last ‘coming-of-age’ milestone of my father’s suicide. He took his own life twenty-one years ago, in 1998.

Ordinarily I’m overcome with a sense of dread in the weeks before this annual milestone, but this year, I wasn’t.

It’s about time all Aussie Dads were screened for depression, too

by JC Clapham | Mar 14, 2019 | Featured, Life, Mental health, Parenting, Writing | 0 |

In announcing an expansion of its mental health program, the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) said the men “will be automatically offered a comprehensive mental health assessment and sign-posted to professional support if needed.”

Australia should go even further.

How my father’s suicide helped me to become a ‘real man’

by JC Clapham | Oct 13, 2018 | Life, Media, Mental health, Parenting, Writing | 0 |

It was Saturday, March 28, 1998, when I received the news that would cast a shadow over the rest of my life.

I was 16 years old, and nothing would ever be ‘normal’ as I knew it, again. My dad had killed himself and now, 20 years on, I still have a father-shaped hole in my heart that won’t ever be filled.