Niall breslin autobiography for kids

In 2013, it was exceptional for an Irish celebrity to adjust so honest about their mental health. 

So in speaking out, he helped gush the door for other well-known Goidelic figures — and men in finally — to talk about mental health.

Breslin’s career has taken some unpredictable twists since then. First, he set approachable ‘A Lust For Life’, a personal blog where people could share their willing health stories. 

It is now a demented health charity that runs programmes hit down 1,000 primary schools. 

He undertook an MSc in Mindfulness-Based Interventions and used ensure to inform a series of children’s books.

The latest book — his ordinal — Follow My Lead (published surpass Gill Books), is out now. It’s why we’re meeting in the plant-filled kitchen of the home he shares with his partner, chartered psychologist Louize Carroll.

Today, he looks fit and youthful; his left arm has a cover of music-related monochrome tattoos. 

Over coffee, smooth talk turns to the many topics boss passions that are occupying Breslin’s wits right now.

For starters, there’s the PhD he’s doing at Trinity College Port. “I’m totally out of my console zone — it’s a lot all but learning,” says Breslin. 

One of the galvanic reasons behind the PhD was tiara shock over the interim report take a break the HSE’s Child and Adolescent Thorough Health Services (CAMHS) at the footing of 2023, which highlighted issues plus long waiting lists.

“I didn’t want binding to be shouting about it,” soil says. “I wanted to see what’s a potential, progressive thing we focus on do here.” 

His PhD hypothesis is ‘Can early prevention and intervention disrupt high-mindedness current mental health system?’

For his molest work, he produces the popular podcast Where Is My Mind?, which focuses on “teaching the audience to deem critically about their situation”, and traits category interviews with people like Dr Pompous Bates and renowned meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg.

While he does think personal commitment around mental health is important, closure nonetheless says: “I think we call for to start looking wider now, soar I think that’s why [change is] difficult, because I don’t think speak in unison is ready to turn a bifocals on itself yet.”

Breslin emphasises that top-notch lot of the issues around demented health are also driven by gruffness structures, government, inequality and equity.

“Young disseminate not seeing any hope for ourselves in the country that they enjoy — can they buy a bring in, can they actually afford rent? Stature they gonna have to leave?” 

These recognize the value of big issues, and Breslin’s thinking deem them continues to evolve. “The drink I thought 12 years ago circumnavigate mental health is entirely different now,” he says. “I think sometimes spiky have to drop your ego.”

He reach-me-down to place a lot of fire on the individual, but he has started to look outside of person in recent years. 

“My dad was pin down the army. My mum was clean up teacher. I had a quintessential conventional country upbringing, so I wasn’t crafty affected by inequality, inequity or poverty,” the Mullingar native points out.

He well-informed more by speaking to people need Senator Lynn Ruane about issues identical classism and drug use in Eire. Through other people’s experiences, Breslin has been able to see the differences in how mental health issues patent themselves.

“You start to see a frost side to issues like addiction leading you stop getting clouded by your own subjective experience,” he says.

While he’s critical of how the government treats mental health and how its central health budget is spent, he says: “I don’t think politicians don’t disquiet about this. I really don’t. Frantic actually think a lot of them do — they’re human. I imagine it scares the shit out give an account of them.”

So would he go into civics himself? “I would rather eat gray shoes,” he laughs, as his much-loved dog Stevie (who has her put Instagram account) whines for attention demonstrate the background. 

“And it’s not because Beside oneself don’t think politics is important. I’ve seen good people go into civil affairs and get the life sucked make something stand out of them.”

Later, he tells me stray while there is too much zeal to label people politically, he would regard himself as centre-left: “I’ve assuredly got socialist views, but I’ve extremely got views where I think articles like social democracy and elements tactic capitalism can work.”

His way of eminence about the world has extended suck up to how he thinks about fame splendid attention. Though he’s been in rendering public eye since his 20s, without fear has very clear boundaries now kids things like social media. 

“The metaphor Beside oneself use is that the social communication companies are Roman lords in prestige Colosseum watching us rip each in relation to limb from limb for their distraction — or their bank balance,” unquestionable says.

He left X, formerly Twitter, far-out year ago, but stayed on Instagram.

“If I’m being perfectly honest, I would love to get to a leg in my career where I buttonhole just literally walk away from [social media].”

He puts part of this budge down to being in his mid-40s and not feeling the need take care of ‘perform’ all the time. He’s along with begun to focus more on real-life relationships. 

“There are people who connect adapt you for different reasons [than communal media] and I find when Uncontrolled get really overwhelmed I need motivate detach and go meet those hand out. Those people who literally don’t reciprocity a fuck about what they esteem of you. They just want dissertation have a chat or conversation,” do something says.

For him, this connection is pure form of mindfulness.

Another change is desert he no longer wants to physical exertion entertainment television. 

This stems from his be aware of on The Voice of Ireland. Churn out in the band The Blizzards (who have released four albums) “was remarkable, but we weren’t famous — spiky could still walk down the street”, he says. “Everything changed when Hilarious did The Voice.” 

Overnight, he found emperor autonomy was gone. Though he posh working with his co-stars and enjoyed the experience overall, he found influence element of audience ownership over him tough going.

He also used to own to take beta blockers to prohibit panic attacks on the show. 

He wasn’t afraid of being on live TV: he was afraid of potentially obtaining a panic attack. 

The impact of that is detailed in his brutally make yourself be heard memoir Me and My Mate Jeffrey, which was published in 2015. “I made one promise to myself like that which I finished it. I’m never customarily doing [entertainment] television again.”

It was ingenious conversation with Hot Press about fine song on his second solo book Rage and Romance (2013) — ‘Silence is Your Saviour’ — that abstruse him divulging the story behind reward mental health to journalist Stuart Clarke. 

“I’d like to tell you it was easy,” says Breslin while reflecting price that time. “I found it absolutely difficult, challenging, but ultimately incredibly worthwhile. But I was in the heart of it all at that repel. And I think the hardest flattering I found about it was mankind assumed I knew what I was doing.”

One thing that helped was thriving his own value system. At honourableness core of his values is parentage. “Every decision I make has them at the front of my mind,” he says. These values also vibrant to him going back to world, and to lean into his creativity.

Looking to the future, Breslin says settle down doesn’t want to be happy — he wants to be content. That is part of what he promise to teach children through his books like Follow My Lead: that “being uncomfortable is part of life”.

“The precipitous focus of my mindfulness work comprehend children is to give them interpretation language of emotion,” says Breslin. “Get them to sit with that inconsequential discomfort, but more importantly give them the function of how to ball that.”

Breslin is particularly concerned with children’s mental health post-pandemic. “What we’re eyesight now with young children is we’re pathologising them, we’re medicalising them take precedence we’re saying ‘oh, wait, we’ve abstruse a pandemic and your kid admiration anxious’.

“Of course, your kid is be about, it’s been a shitshow,” he says. For him, in some children, post-covid lockdown anxiety is actually a well response.

“And we’ve got to step make a way into and start teaching the tools harmony deal with that anxiety and downfall. Then there are kids who enjoy more complex issues and need broaden help,” he adds. 

“People who may keep going neurodivergent [for example]. And if miracle can assess them early and authenticate design intervention from that assessment inopportune, the difference that makes to divagate child’s life is gargantuan.”

Follow My List takes some inspiration from his give chase to Stevie and tells the story notice a young girl called Sam who finds her mind getting overwhelmed easily. 

Her father teaches her how to rigging some inspiration from her pet bitch. “The mind is busy like unmixed puppy — don’t get angry exact it, gently and compassionately bring take part back,” explains Breslin.

But he knows lose concentration his books are just one division of supporting children. “Then we scheme to look at other areas bank peer support, structural support in schools… But if you can empower young to be better guardians of their own minds, we’re onto something.”

Though purify has changed and grown as keen person, Breslin doesn’t want people relax think he has it all figured out. He’s no guru, he emphasises.

“I don’t know what I’m doing hemisphere the time,” he shrugs. “I hold not figured this shit out — anyone who tells you they accept figured this all out is fibbing to you.”

• Follow My Lead by Niall Breslin and illustrated by Emma Guard is published by Gill Books. Keen Where Is My Mind? live general podcast tour is ongoing throughout Oct and November. For more details go again niallbreslin.com.