I have followed Jonnys story on and off during the past few years and so really keen to read this.
I also trained as a mental health first aider last year so to read a book to give me a deeper understanding of mental health issues really on my agenda.

This is a great insight into mental illness and Jonny’s battle to stay well. The episode on the bridge just one of many during his life and i have a serious amount of respect for how he continues to battle against such debilitating health issues.

Personally the most powerful parts were Jonny’s diary excerpts and poetry. Would have loved more of these.

I'd heard a lot about this book recently as it had been revealed that the Royal Family were endorsing the book - to be honest this did make me trepidatious. I needn't have .worried - from the beginning Johnny's honesty just shone through and it was painful to read his about his ups and downs but at the same time incredibly important. There is too much stigma surrounding mental health problems and the statistics he uses are shocking - and how true the points about the divide in how everyone treats physical health so differently from mental health.
I am so pleased that Johnny was saved from jumping from the bridge and the way the story plays out over the next few years is an important one to share.

This is an incredibly powerful and important book, dealing with a difficult subject that needs more public discussion to create a better understanding of the issue, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
The book opens with one of the most desperate days of Jonny Benjamin's life. In his early twenties, he had suffered from mental health problems all his life, with diagnoses ranging from depression to schizophrenia, and fleeing his current psychiatric hospital he made his way to Waterloo Bridge, determined to put an end to his misery. The only thing that stopped him was a young man who struck up a conversation with him, and eventually convinced him to go for a coffee, Before he could take up the stranger's kind offer he was arrested for his own safety and returned to a mental health facility. Several years later, when he was finally starting to feel in a better place he was approached by a television company who wanted to help him find this stranger as part of documentary.
Scattered throughout the book are various diary entries and pieces of poetry Johnny had written throughout his life, cataloging his struggles with self image, mood and the deepest secret of all, his sexuality. While he displayed symptoms from an early age, he did not seek help until he was in his teens, and it was his experiences with an understaffed and overstretched NHS system that lead to him becoming an advocate for better mental health facilities for children and teens in later years.
While the search for the stranger on the bridge is in some ways the driving force of this book, the real heart is Johnny himself, his honesty, even about things that were clearly difficult and unpleasant for him, shines through on every page, and I really felt like I got to know him just a little by reading his story . What an admirable and inspiring man, and what a difficult but worthwhile story he tells. For anyone who wants to understand what living with mental health issues is like, I cannot think of a single book I would recommend more.

Highlighting mental illness and how Johnny came to help others. An enthralling and uplifting read. Would recommend.