My name is Jason Nelson, this is my journey.
I am a Royal Navy veteran and ex UK and WA Police officer, I live with complex PTSD, Depression and Anxiety.
I am a suicide attempt survivor. I'm also a parent to a suicide attempt survivor.
Enduring these struggles has given me strength and a passion for compassion to help others working on their ‘Mental Fitness’.
In 2008, while working on a covert policing team in Western Australia, after a period of insurmountable work pressures and bullying, I became severely depressed and contemplated, planned and attempted suicide several times.
Thankfully with the help and support of my family I was able to find the courage to report what was happening to me; and the empowerment to seek the help I desperately needed and a proper diagnosis.
Throughout my life there have been many short stories of trauma that I have experienced and I used to deal with it by locking them away in my sub consciousness library.
These traumas include: being sexually assaulted by a person in a position of trust when I was a child, not processing the loss and grief of family members and close friends that had died and to responding to numerous traumatic incidents during my former distinguished policing career with Cheshire Police in the UK and here with Western Australian Police.
Unaware at the time, I was unprepared for the library of trauma to come tumbling down after being triggered by yet another traumatic experience about 4 years ago
I didn't understand the symptoms of post traumatic stress and I struggled to cope with what was happening to me, the flash backs, the sensitivity to noise, being hyper vigilant, and severe anxiety. I tried and failed to deal with it on my own for three months becoming severely depressed and experiencing a major emotional episode.
I have de-sensitised to much of this trauma, and I continue to undergo psychological therapy and psychosocial rehab as I learn and live through my recovery journey.
Sadly, this journey for my family and I didn’t stop there ……our family felt another blow from mental illness in 2015 when our daughter Holly, then 17, who lives with Depression, Anxiety and Borderline Personality Disorder attempted suicide twice by drug overdose.
I'm so happy to say Holly is much better now, after the right balance of support, help and treatment is following in her older sisters footsteps by training becoming a nurse.
After many years of walking along the non-linear road towards mental fitness, the effects eventually manifested in me physically resulting in surgery to remove much of my colon from a rapid onset of a Gastrointestinal Disease.
Having been through what I have endured, and survived, I now use the gift of my lived experience to speak in public about mental health issues, to help educate others to break down the stigma that surrounds it and the barriers to care.
My experience has also inspired me to undertake further studies to educate myself beyond my own experiences and I'm currently completing a CERT IV in Mental Health through the Western Australian Association for Mental Health (WAAMH) to gain further knowledge on how to help others.
More recently I've undertaken a Recovery Story Telling Course at WAAMH, I'm an accredited Mental Health First Aider through Mental Health First Aid Australia and I'm now a Lived Experience Speaker for Beyondblue
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In 2017 I also returned to the bosom of the ‘thin blue line’ and completed the WA Police Peer Support Officer training course as a guest volunteer.
One of my greatest tools with my mental fitness is distance running; and to date I have run 22 marathons and countless half marathons and other events. Running to me is one of my most powerful therapies, I concentrate on my breathing, the sound of my feet falling and I get into the zone and meditate.
I have been running events in a full weight woollen kilt since 2013 as a way to raise additional awareness, this has now become a part of me and I’m proud to be currently running in a Napier tartan kilt, as a homage to all emergency services. The Napier tartan is worn by the WA Police Pipe Band who I’m proud so say are wonderful supporters.
To help with my recovery I co-founded the Rogue Runners Club Australia here in Perth, Western Australia in 2011. The club is free to join with an ethos is based upon fitness, family, fun and fundraising. From 4 founding members we now have over 120 members across Australia, New Zealand, the US and UK. Since our establishment we have raised over $80,000 for worthy charities.
From 1 July 2016 the club made a permanent ongoing partnership to support Sirens of Silence Charity Inc. to raise funds and awareness for our Police, Fire and Paramedics and their families who suffer from the effects of work related mental wellbeing issues such as PTSD, Depression and Anxiety.
The objective of the running club is to become the go to crew, through Sirens of Silence, for serving and ex emergency service workers and the wider population who wish to gain improvement in mental wellbeing through running, fitness, exercise and nutrition advice.
Through the relationship between Rogue Runners Club Australia and Sirens of Silence Charity Inc. and being passionate about helping others I’m now proud to serve as the charities Vice President.
One of my greatest tools with my mental fitness is distance running; and to date I have run 22 marathons and countless half marathons and other events. Running to me is one of my most powerful therapies, I concentrate on my breathing, the sound of my feet falling and I get into the zone and meditate.
I have been running events in a full weight woollen kilt since 2013 as a way to raise additional awareness, this has now become a part of me and I’m proud to be currently running in a Napier tartan kilt, as a homage to all emergency services. The Napier tartan is worn by the WA Police Pipe Band who I’m proud so say are wonderful supporters.
To help with my recovery I co-founded the Rogue Runners Club Australia here in Perth, Western Australia in 2011. The club is free to join with an ethos is based upon fitness, family, fun and fundraising. From 4 founding members we now have over 120 members across Australia, New Zealand, the US and UK. Since our establishment we have raised over $80,000 for worthy charities.
From 1 July 2016 the club made a permanent ongoing partnership to support Sirens of Silence Charity Inc. to raise funds and awareness for our Police, Fire and Paramedics and their families who suffer from the effects of work related mental wellbeing issues such as PTSD, Depression and Anxiety.
The objective of the running club is to become the go to crew, through Sirens of Silence, for serving and ex emergency service workers and the wider population who wish to gain improvement in mental wellbeing through running, fitness, exercise and nutrition advice.
Through the relationship between Rogue Runners Club Australia and Sirens of Silence Charity Inc. and being passionate about helping others I’m now proud to serve as the charities Vice President.
