SLIDE 1
Jonny Benjamin MBE & Neil Laybourn – Award winning mental health campaigners & public speakers
Jonny Benjamin MBE and Neil Laybourn give talks and present
- n the topic of mental health to groups and organisations all
around the UK. The pair are award winning mental health campaigners - their journey together began in 2008 when Neil talked Jonny out of taking his own life by jumping from the edge of Waterloo Bridge in London. Jonny had just been diagnosed with schizophrenia and depression and was extremely unwell. Neil’s interaction saved his life but the two were soon separated when the police intervened and took Jonny away to be sectioned. 6 years later, in 2014, Jonny launched a campaign on Twitter to fjnd and thank the man who had stopped him taking his
- wn life - #FindMike - it became a global news campaign that
reached over 300 million people around the world and was successful in reuniting the 2 strangers within a matter of weeks from the campaign being launched. What followed was an emotional meeting and the beginning
- f a journey where both men united to campaign around the
issues of both mental health and suicide, which is now the biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK. The story of their journey was made into a TV documentary, The Stranger on the Bridge, which aired on Channel 4 in 2015 and had a meaningful impact on millions of viewers. The documentary has won a number of awards and is currently being aired internationally. After a private meeting with Prince William and the Duchess
- f Cambridge in March this year, the pair were invited by the
Royal Foundation to represent the ‘Heads Together’ charity in running for the 2017 London Marathon. Neil and Jonny have presented their story in a number of difgerent
- rganisations all over the UK, some of which are listed below.