mental health | 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...

There’s a spotfire in my head, and our home is burning, too.

by JC Clapham | Feb 20, 2020 | Life, Mental health, Parenting, Writing | 0 |

Nothing I write feels ‘worthy’ of the page or screen right now. How could it? Our country is burning and our ‘leaders’ credibility even more up in smoke.

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...

Good riddance?

by JC Clapham | Nov 16, 2019 | Featured, Life, Mental health, Writing | 0 |

1999 Green Day’s Time of Your Life was released a year or two before I finished high...

So-ober it

by JC Clapham | Oct 16, 2019 | Life, Mental health, Writing | 0 |

In the July issue of The Westsider, in a piece entitled ‘A brief history of my former life as an...

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...

A brief history of my former life as an occasionally-but-very drunk dickhead

by JC Clapham | Jul 6, 2019 | Featured, Life, Mental health, Writing | 0 |

The day I write this piece marks four years since I last had an alcoholic drink. Alcohol of any...

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.