By Elliott West
“Mental illness is a very powerful thing. If it is with you it is probably going to be there until the day you die. I am trying so hard to break mine, but it is not easy. It is my toughest fight ever”.
Frank Bruno
Introduction
I will always praise someone who talks openly about their mental health illness. It’s not only an important part of public awareness but also the start of the self-healing process. That’s because speaking to someone is vital. For far too long, mental health has been seen by society as a stigma, the cognitive secret that is preferred to be hidden behind lock and key, shameful and something that people would rather ignore than face. I am sick of hearing about political parties of all persuasions promising the earth on addressing mental health but it’s a political football that those with power prefer to kick into the nearest hedge when push comes to shove. This essential form of health care has far too long been underfunded with only pharmaceutical giants reaping the profits. A scandal that sadly remains one with no one with any true clout, prepared to tackle this issue head-on.
Talking Frankly
Frank Bruno is a star in his own right. A working-class man, a child of the Windrush generation, Franklin Roy Bruno grew up in a Britain where racial discrimination was rife and the police were seen as the enemy. Removed from his London upbringing due to the swirling temptation of bad ways at the request of his parents, Frank spent his early youth in a Sussex borstal, an institution that punished bad behaviour and rewarded good behaviour. Yet Frank holds no grudges for this life experience and rather praises the way that made him the disciplined man he is today. A highly successful heavyweight boxer whose career ran from 1982-1996 and had an iron punch that won him 40 of his 45 fights.
Yet bubbling beneath the surface of this former boxer who has a highly likeable character and an infectious laugh, lies his continual personal fight of his own. A battle against Bi-Polar Disorder or Manic Depression as it used to be known. A chemical imbalance in the brain that takes the sufferer to ultimate highs and lows, ending Frank’s marriage and being sectioned under the 1983 Mental Act to Goodmayes Hospital in Ilford. A place where he was heavily medicated to the point where he was left zombified and left dribbling at the mouth.
Despite two formal sections, Bruno remains positive and sees this time as an important part of his healing process. Seeing the media not as an enemy but as an entity that followed him through the good and bad times. Now he tries to live his life the right way, still training and coaching budding boxers of the future. A champion of mental health, Frank has used his notoriety to good effect, visiting television studios and talking to the press about its sheer importance. An illness that comes in so many different forms, from the mild to the severe. One that in some cases leads to suicide and for others with counselling and the right medication, the promise of an almost ordinary life.
The Frank Bruno Foundation
Based in Northampton, the Frank Bruno Foundation was set up in 2017 to provide a safe environment for the young and old with mental health issues. This foundation seeks to understand the issues being faced and provides a 12-week well-being and non-contact boxing programme that is complemented by a need-led wrap-around support service. This programme is available to anyone over the age of 13 and some even as young as 10 with a referral. Help that can be offered thanks to the referral of a professional, friend or self-referral.
The Frank Bruno Foundation supports participants in building self-esteem, confidence, resilience and discipline and applying such skills to their daily lives. They also continually campaign to raise public awareness of mental health and counter the stigma that surrounds it. This is done via social media platforms and charity ambassadors to encourage anyone facing mental illness to talk openly about their daily struggles and to not feel discriminated against.
This foundation is born out of Frank’s wanting to give something back to the community. A mental health experience that has given him the courage to speak out about Bi-Polar Disorder and empowered him as a direct result. This had become a life focus for Frank and filled him with determination, dignity, humility and humour and humility as a result. Not that he didn’t have this in abundance before. Frank’s quest is truly inspiring and will hopefully lead to changes in mental health care in the near and distant future.
