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Life Changing

We said we’d never talk about it again

Life Changing

BBC

Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.6735 Ratings

🗓️ 3 November 2021

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On the evening of Friday 29 November 2013, Michael Byrne was having a drink with a friend in a bar in Glasgow. They'd gone to see a band and had only been there for about an hour when suddenly it felt like everything had been shaken up – as if they were in snowglobe. Amid the chaos of falling debris Michael’s actions helping others were heroic, and afterwards to his wife and colleagues he seemed to be just fine. In the aftermath of this disaster he and his friend had agreed not to speak about what they’d been through in a misguided effort to ‘protect’ themselves. But Michael was struggling to cope and the more time that passed without talking about it, the worse things got for him.

Confronting the experience would bring back traumatic memories from his early life and push him to a place where he contemplated suicide. He was stopped by a chance event – and then began seriously to address his mental health.

Now Michael has founded an organisation called Lived Experience Trauma Support to provide mental health training and support services to businesses.

The tragedy in 2013 was caused by a police helicopter that crashed into the roof of the Clutha Vaults in Glasgow. It claimed the lives of the pilot, his two crew members and seven customers in the pub that night.

If you are looking for details of organisations offering information and support with mental health you can find them at bbc.co.uk/actionline. To get in touch with the programme, or to share your personal story, you can email us at: [email protected]

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello, I'm Greg Jenner. I'm the host of Your Dead to Me, where the best names in comedy and history

0:05.5

join me to learn about and laugh at the past. You are a traitor. And in the new series, we'll meet

0:11.2

Aristotle. I think he might have been a time traveller. Someone who's like almost a glitch.

0:15.3

We'll dive into the causes of the British Civil Wars in the 1600s. In England at this period,

0:19.8

there's people can't get on the housing ladder.

0:21.5

This sounds familiar.

0:23.2

And we'll discover the arts and crafts movement.

0:25.3

I love the clothes.

0:26.3

I love the vibe.

0:27.1

Yes, we're a comedy show

0:28.0

that takes history seriously

0:29.3

and then laughs at it.

0:30.5

You're dead to me.

0:31.3

Listen first on BBC Sounds.

0:34.3

BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.

0:38.0

Hello, this is Jane Garvey and this is life-changing.

0:41.7

Now, many of us have got to deal with some pretty awful things at some point or another in our lives,

0:46.5

but some do have more to deal with than others.

0:49.9

But as our guest today, Michael Byrne says, it's not a competition.

0:54.5

But I think it's also true to say that he's been through more than his fair share.

0:59.6

Michael grew up in Glasgow in the 1970s.

1:02.7

His was a difficult childhood, made even harder when his father was murdered, when Michael was just a young man.

...

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