John Taylor
John’s mental health suffered when his family experienced abuse centred around his son’s learning difficulties. He decided to take control and became involved in groups connected with learning difficulties and mental health, realising he was not alone in experiencing discrimination.
John became a volunteer with many groups, working to raise awareness about the distress felt by people with learning difficulties or mental ill health and their families, and he undertook training courses, such as ‘Stress and Stigma’, to help him do this. John then set up a website for South Tyneside Patients’ Council and later became administrator for Mental Health North East (MHNE), also publicising their service voluntarily, for which he completed media and IT training.
In 2009, John was rewarded with a full-time paid job as MHNE’s Communications Officer and undertook further training in web design. John came from a career as a technician and had an interest in technology and mechanics, yet he has undergone training in areas he’d never have considered before.