Voice of Ireland star Bressie urged the people of Donegal to open up about their mental health problems and seek help.
The former Blizzards frontman spoke at the Cycle Against Suicide campaign which held a presentation talk on “Mental Health Awareness” at the LYIT campus this evening. 
Cycle against Suicide founder Jim Breen also spoke about his long running battle with mental health issues saying he has suffered from depression and anger management problems for most of his life.
He said it had destroyed many relationships he had and caused him a great deal of pain.
Bressie then spoke in great detail about his problems and was very forthcoming and emotive regarding his own personal battle with mental health issues,
He told the large crowd in attendance ”I suffer from mental health problems and I have done all my life, I suffer from a mental health condition called general anxiety disorder”
“I spent two weeks in bed at Christmas and never left my room because of the condition, I told people I had a chest infection I just couldn’t face anyone, I can’t explain to people why I felt this way it just came on me.”
“One night I woke at 2am and felt it coming on bad so I got up and decided to go for a run. My mother was like where the hell you going at this time of the night, I never ran before, but that night I ran 20k, I just kept running. I was like Forest Gump.”
“When I came home I felt great, I knew the only way to beat this condition was to get competitive with it, I am very competitive and focused and unbelievably stubborn I knew that being competitive with it could help me manage the problems I have.”
Bressie then disclosed details of a huge breakdown he suffered minutes before he was due to appear live on The Voice of Ireland televiison show.
“I was sharing a dressing room with Kian Egan which is difficult at the best of times, 5 minutes before you go live you get a knock at the door saying time to get miked up your on in 5, I remember just after Kian left looking at my watch and it was 12 minutes past 6 we were going live at 20 past when suddenly it hit me.”
“I suffered the worst panic attack I’ve ever experienced, my knees went before me and I couldn’t see and went deaf in one hear, I didn’t know what was going on and also ripped my shirt during the attack,”
“Then the knock came just as I began to start coming around for the attack, I told them I can’t go on but they just said come on let’s go thinking I was acting the diva.”
“Eight minutes after the worst panic attack I ever experienced I was live on RTE, I don’t know how I pulled it together and done the show, after it though I knew enough was enough.”
“I said I’ve got to open up about this I can’t keep ignoring it I need to go public with it, I spoke with family and friends and we talked about what could happen, I was in the spotlight 24/7 so it was a difficult decision to decide to go public but after consulting with those close to me I decided to do it.”
“I can honestly say it’s been the best decision I’ve ever made, by making my feelings public there has been a domino effect, I’ve had people come up to me and say you talking about your Mental health issues made me confront mine, so if I can help people by coming forward then it will be all worthwile.”
“I urge the young people of Donegal to stop ignoring your problems, seek help and talk to people, you can deal with your problems and manage them, our motto and it’s a great slogan is “it’s ok to not feel ok” that captures what were talking about, if your not happy just speak to someone reach out the support networks are there.”
“We are a movement (Cycle against Suicide) and hopefully in 3 or 4 years time we will be in a position that everybody in Ireland can talk about mental health problems without looking at their shoes laces and take the problem of mental health in this country seriously.”
The lecture hall also heard from Vincent McLaughlin who lost his son to Suicide just eight months ago.
He revealed “Me and my wife have been left totally devastated by what happened our son, we will never get over that devastation.”
“I’m urging everyone of you out there to go home and look at your parents, you don’t need to look at them directly, but just think of the pain you can cause them. Please seek help. There are fantastic organisations available for people out there so please use them so other families across Ireland don’t have to experience the horrific and ongoing pain we feel everyday for our loss.”
The cyclists kick off the next leg of their tour when they depart Letterkenny shopping centre at 9.30 am today and will then visit Ballybofey before making their way to Buncrana.
If you can please come out and support this fantastic initiative and organisation as they seek to promote mental health awareness among young people across the county in the coming days.