My name is Daragh Fleming. I’m an Irish writer and poet living in Barcelona. I didn’t really find writing until I needed it. When I was 17 my best friend took his own life. He was 18 at the time. We had no idea he was struggling. From the outside looking in, his life seemed good, he seemed happy. But this wasn’t the case. One day he was here, and then he wasn’t. I grieved for months. There were so many questions, so many feelings. And then my grief morphed into depression. I stopped feeling anything. I become numb to the world, unable to connect with anything or anyone. This lasted for three years before I realised I was depressed, an took a further year before things got so bad that I could no longer carry the burden alone.

I went to therapy. I made an effort to improve my mental health. And things did improve. Four years after my friend died, I got better. And this is when I started writing about mental health, and writing in general. I started a blog called Thoughts Too Big which aimed to normalise talking about our mental health. I found that writing poetry helped me to engage with my emotions, to feel them fully, more clearly, and deeply. I’ve written collections of short stories, poetry chapbooks, essay collections. Writing is the one thing where I feel I can fully be myself, and it’s something I’ll always do, even if nobody is reading.

Today I still do this work. My goal has been to prevent suicide, to stop men in particular from taking their own lives. My friend dying this way is the worst and most difficult thing that has ever happened in my life, and so if I can do anything to prevent someone from taking their own life, then I’ll do it wholeheartedly. I also don’t want anyone to have to bereave suicide, to have to accept an event that is impossible to fathom. All of the work I do, whether it be through poetry, essays, performances, talks, workshops is to normalise this conversation - normalise talking about mental health so that people don’t end up feeling like they have to die.

 

I’ve given TEDx Talks on poetry and mental health, performed in various countries, given talks in countless places, all with this singular goal. In recent years I learned I have ADHD which was a surprise. It helped to give context to the way I am, how I work and don’t work, how I am in relationships, how I am in general. But while it helps to explain who I am, it doesn’t define me. At the end of the day I’m just some guy who wants to do some good in the world. I’m flawed, I’m not perfect. I try to use my talents to help people to feel, to understand themselves, and to hopefully inspire in the small ways that I can.