Adam Collard reveals how his TV persona affects his mental health
He was on Love Island
Speaking to us for our mental health campaign Where's Your Head At?, Love Island star Adam Collard opened up about his experience with mental health.
Talking about the character he played on the hit ITV show, and how this consequently affected his mental health, Adam said, "Alpha men who have a reputation on TV as strong characters might feel like they can’t speak out about their mental health. Me and Mike Thalassitis both portrayed this persona on Love Island, even though that’s not what we’re like in real life.
"I think this made it hard for me to speak about my mental health because people assumed I wasn’t ever bothered about anything. You think, ‘I can’t come out and say I’m upset about something because it’s just not really the done thing'."
Adam revealed that, "There are definitely things that impact negatively on my mental health, like body image. The pressure for me to stay in shape and keep up my appearance for social media is high. I’m also quite self-critical – I’ll take a picture and think, well I don’t look as good as I did in the Love Island villa, so I can’t post this picture on my Instagram. My friends think it’s ridiculous!
"Last year, a bad picture was taken of me at Thorpe Park and that really got to me because I got a few nasty tweets from trolls. It’s just not good for your headspace. Since leaving Love Island, I‘ve had to learn to deal with people’s comments, whether they’re positive or negative."
Listen to our Where's Your Head At? podcast - this episode is with Adam Collard
He added, "to cope with my mental health, I focus on breathing techniques and working on my fitness, because it completely detoxes my mind and channels any aggression. I also started to write in a diary about what I’m grateful for every day. I write about something I did well that day, something I did bad that day and how to make my day better. I never thought I would be the type of person to write in a diary, but it does help."
"If someone is really struggling with their mental health, I’d encourage them to talk about it even though that can be really hard," Adam said. "We all need to pull together, especially in the workplace. There should be someone in every workplace who can help because work stress can cause ill mental health. That’s why I’m supporting the Where’s Your Head At? campaign which aims to change the law around mental health."
If you want to get involved in the Where's Your Head At? campaign and make a change, check out the website at www.wheresyourheadat.org