Voices For Mental Health: Marcus O'Laoire of Hijinks and Sicko club nights

I’ve lost family members to suicide, and there are people very close to me who’ve suffered from mental health issues. I’ve seen it affect their lives hugely. I see younger DJs and friends of mine, and they’re in an industry where it’s really high octane for a few hours, and then it’s nothing. You see how that can really take a toll on people.

Within the past couple of years, there have been friends, regulars on the dance scene, who’ve taken their own lives. Suicide can be quite an abstract concept, until you see the effect it has. You go through this whole range of emotions, where you try and empathise with the person and what they were feeling, and why they felt they couldn’t reach out.

You get this terrifying cavalcade of thoughts. Hopefully what that does is increase empathy – and that people realise if they’re feeling down, they can talk to somebody. I always said if I have any kind of platform, I’m not just going use it to try and fill rooms. I want to encourage people to talk and take care of each other – to try and promote behaviour that will improve people’s mental health. It’s so important to do that in the dance music industry. So if one of your mates is normally really bubbly and you haven’t heard from them in a couple of weeks, check in on them. We are all in this together.

Now We're Talking 2019
A partnership between Lyons Tea, Pieta House & Hot Press.
Let’s break the stigma and take the dialogue about mental health issues onto a new level
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