Peter Andre joined heat this week to speak about his experiences of dealing with mental health and to share advice to those who may be wary themselves to open up about their issues.
In this honest interview, Peter spoke about learning to deal with panic attacks, his experiences of both therapy and medication and the importance of recognising mental health as much as physical health.
He was interviewed for ‘Where’s Your Head At?’ – heat’s campaign aiming to drive a vital mission: break the stigma attached to talking about mental health and make it a legal requirement for every work place or college in the UK to have a mental health first aider.
Watch Peter Andre talk about his mental health below:
He spoke about his daily panic attacks, saying "“I remember when I had my first panic attack, which was horrific… At the time, you think you are going to die.
"There is nothing anybody could tell you that is going make you understand that you’re not going die from it. It’s just a fear. And I used to not know who to talk to: I couldn’t talk to my parents because they were so old school."
“I was really scared until I found that I had to talk to somebody who specialised in this for me to get it out my system. Once I started to understand what the problem was and the panic attacks were so regular – everyday – for years, I started to want to talk about it because it was the only way I could get better… It was the best thing I ever did."
Peter supports our campaign to get a mental health first aider in every school and workplace. He told us: “I really think it’s important, especially with this campaign, especially now in this generation with Instagram and filters and shows that are showing 'perfection' so to speak… more than ever depression is hitting schools, its hitting people at a much younger age, anxiety – that’s why they need to have that support system that we didn’t have as kids. I think it’s an incredible idea.”
We need YOUR help to make it a legal requirement to have a trained mental health first aider in every workplace or college. Please sign our petition here and use the hashtag #WheresYourHeadAt to support the campaign.