The Belfast man has spent most of his life caring for others, including family members, and describes himself as the happiest he’s ever been — thanks to the help offered by the Simon Community. “I always had depression,” he says. “Even since I was a kid, I always had bouts of it.
This is the longest period I’ve ever gone without feeling any depression. Just waking up every morning happy. Everyone who knows me [can see] there’s such a change in me from the past few years.
” Stuart describes 2021 as “catastrophic” and a time when everything “collapsed inward”. He had previously cared for his grandmother, who had dementia, before her death, and had worked in a nursing home for people with the disease, winning an award for Carer of the Year. “I left that [job] to look after my mother with dementia.
When she died, that’s when everything hit the rails,” he explains. “She died in April 2021. I was doing great, right up until even the day of the funeral.
Everyone was saying they couldn’t understand how I was coping so well. The very next day, I woke up and I was just like ‘My life has no point at all’.” He had to appeal staying in the house with the Housing Executive and, during the process, didn’t leave his home between April and September 2021.
“I had the blinds closed — complete darkness, completely shut off. My niece used to have to deliver food for me every week.” When the appeals were unsuccessful, Stuart had to vacate the house an.
